Hush...

Sunlight shining in...

on a cold, quiet morning...

caught in prisms...

casting rainbows...

Oh well... it's still "Home Sweet Home" for us.

The realtor was very honest... this house is too big, too nice, and a specialty house (because of the in-law apartment) to sell in this market. We wouldn't be able to get what we need right now in this market. So whew.... some relief for me, because I really love my house and neighbors.

Another choice....

House choice #2. This house is just down the street from us. Which is a big plus, we love this neighborhood, Noah has friends here, easy access to the bus line. It's more expensive than the other house, smaller, but it's move in condition.

the porch is much smaller than ours now, but it can be screened in.

Also there's a deck on the back, up on the second floor.

Kitchen... is nice.

Yay!... the woodwork hasn't been painted! Through the french doors is a room that we're hoping would work for a bedroom for my mom. She has to be on the main floor with a bathroom.

Fireplace... love the bookcases, not too sure about the bricks though. Also the living room is carpeted... maybe there's hardwood under it. The backyard is nice. Small. but it's a city house, that's about all you'll get. We've been working on the pre approval for the new loan and a realtor is come to check out our house at 1:00 today. (I've been very busy cleaning!) I don't know, we may have to just put everything on hold if the value of our house is less than we owe on it.

Life Changes...

We're seriously thinking of moving. A less expensive home than ours would be nice for a little breathing room with the family budget.

This is one of our favorites we're considering. It's here in town. It's old... 137 years old, it's huge, 2,361 sq. ft. it's an unbelievable price... what's wrong with it? Okay, it needs work... painting, an upstairs balcony needs replacing and we're not sure all the mechanicals are in good working order. I'm thinking the former owners liked green a bit too much. What do you think?

Hanging around the homestead...

I love being home...

just relaxing with family and friends.

Feeding my feathered friends...

peaceful feelings.

Keeping Busy...

I needed to keep busy today, so I finished the dinning room.

I just made my goal of having it done before I returned to work.

Whew! I just had to put a touch of fall into the room.

Tomorrow I will go back to work. When I get out at noon I will call and check on Harpo. So far, no news from the vet's office, which is good! It's 6:30pm and I have to pick up Caleb at the movies soon. Thank you everyone for the caring thoughts for Harpo, it means the world to me. I will post about him tomorrow as soon as I can.

Painting and Paws.

Here's a before photo, you can see our attempt at restoring the natural wood.

Here a quick preview... Brad needs to trim the top near the ceiling, I couldn't reach it very well and kept messing it up. A few touch ups, hang stuff back on the walls, oh and get 14 new knobs for the built in. Ugh! And it is done! It's diffidently going to take some time to get use to it. It looks super orangey on my monitor it's really not that bad in person.

Noah has complained of a headache yesterday and last night, no fever or anything else going on, I'm thinking the fumes of the paint may be bothering him.

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Harpo is at the vets today and has to stay the night. He is being neutered and de-clawed.

Pretty much, de-monstered! He needs healing energy and happy thoughts. I feel so bad for him. I am sure he is just thinking I've left him at that horrible place and I'm never coming back!

My poor baby!

We've lost the battle of the dinning room!

We gave up on scraping the paint off the wood work. After weeks and weeks of work... Using the safe (no odor) stripper, scraping and sanding We hit some areas that just wouldn't give up the paint. We gave up! We now have painted the entire room with white primer.

I've chose chocolate brown for the trim and built in cabinets with a pumpkin pie color for the walls. Some people around here are liking it all white. Not me! My last week off work will be split between homeschooling and painting. Oh well, I said I wanted the room done by the fall.... so dang it, I'll get it done! I hope... anyone want to help?

I'll supply the paint, chocolate and pie!

Yum...

Walls and a kitten...

I've always thought you can tell a lot about a person by what's hanging on their walls....

Magazine Print and Noah's hand Print

Caleb wrote a strange message...from The Holy Grail and Sniffy trio.

Audubon Print in a very old frame and a Downtown photo by Autumn.

Map and Autumn with some old family photos.

Mantel Mirror and Tree photos (not Autumn's) with family photos

The kids hand prints and Noah's hand in clay with a small painting.

One of my favorite artist's originals and one sleeping kitten.

I would love to see whats hanging on your walls!

East Side Neighborhood

I found this You Tube video about my neighborhood. These homes are all in a block or two from mine. The video is about 4 mins. long.

Before and After.

The much dreaded ugly porch....

A little more tolerable.

I'm so proud of the boys!
We still need to build a wood spindle railing down one

side of the steps. But I' m thinking of leaving the

top open. It is a little bigger than before.

And I'm liking the openness of it.

I've hated this side porch since we bought

the house 3 years ago! The wood is rotting and

the railing is rusty and loose. I always worry

about my mom using it. It's the most used entrance.

So this weekend Brad and Caleb got busy.

It was so cute watching father and son work

together. Brad giving Caleb careful instructions

on how to use the power tools. Watch Caleb's

face as he worked along side his dad. It was

wonderful! They don't get much of a chance to

do this kind of stuff together.

Now there is scrapping and painting to do, that's my part.
I'll post a finish project picture when it's done.

Home Sweet Home

Oh, I just couldn't think of much to blog about,

so a quick tour of the homestead.

Living room fireplace, Our big t.v. died so

we borrowed Autumn's little one for a few weeks until

we bought a new one.

Mom's area, very messy.... This is where I do art, blogging, pay bills, etc....
Dinning Room, You can see where we are refinishing

the woodwork. It's slow but steady work in progress. First we

will finish the dinning room and then we'll think

about the living room.

Hehe..... Sniffy pictures hanging in my kitchen. Looking out to my front porch, Home Sweet Home where the dinosaurs roam.