Finding Joy in Him

Through Every Season

Page 25 of 39

Angel our Bunny

I took our bunny to be put to sleep today.  She’s had breast cancer for sometime now and the last couple of days she all but quit eating.  With the trips we have planned, I didn’t want to leave her home and be worrying about her or keep dreading the upcoming duty.

Judi volunteered to come with me.  We didn’t attempt to stay with her during the procedure… I sobbed when I had to take our cat, Whiskers, in several years ago.  
Back in the car, the minute I was about to start crying, Judi brought up a cheerful subject.  She is really good at guiding difficult conversations… if someone is about to get in an heated argument or something, she knows how to smooth things over and redirect the conversation.
The two of us had a mini wake by going to DQ and buying our favorite treat; Moolattes.  I felt really peaceful about it all.. like we were dong the right thing and the right time.. and as Joel said.. God gave me grace.  
The empty space where her cage belongs is a little sad, but I am glad for the 10 years we had with her.

I spent the rest of the day crafting .. such a mood lifter.. next blog entry..

Love,
J

Introducing the Laundry Room

My laundry room is usually the last room unpacked and the one I am most excited 
to have done; there’s something about weeks and weeks of 
trying to get the wash done admits chaos.. then wa-la.. order!
The lack of storage and the fact that the mirror/coatrack (a garage sale find) 
that’s hung near our backdoor for the last seven years broke in the move 
inspired me to buy some paint and shelf paper and go a little over the top coordinating.    
Our laundry room is right off the kitchen.. here is a view from there.
The door straight back leads to the garage.
Here’s a close up of the back wall.  I made the clock for our kitchen in FL.
All my left over decor ended up in here so it’s mix matched.
See the tall plastic thing with the polka dots?
I bought it at the Container Store for our last house.  It opens up.. (see below) 
A family of six can never have too much space for hanging clothes.
Here’s a view from the garage.  The door on the left is a pantry.  
I use it to store our vacuum, light bulbs.. etc.
If I re-mat the “Train up your child” verse over the
 window in blue, it might go a little better.
This is what the shelves looked like before I recovered them 
with the new polka dot shelf paper I found at Target.  
The shelves held Josh’s rock collection and dinosaurs among other things for years.  
For the last two houses, Josh hasn’t unpacked the stuff 
that goes on the shelves, so I repurposed them.
My friend, Suzanne, gave me this cute breadbox 
that she found at a garage sale in Germany (I think).
My dusting supplies are in it now.  I hung the selves so it’d just fit.
The little covered can next to it is a little trash can for my dryer lent.
I found the canisters years ago at Goodwill.  
They are too fussy for my new kitchen, 
so I am using them to hide my dry cleaning supplies etc.
I labeled them so I can remember what’s in which.
I found the plastic carafes at Target and made labels for them on the computer;
 there’s one for bleach, softener, vinegar.. and several for detergent.  
 Two or three times a year I buy this huge bottle of Ecos laundry detergent 
at Costco that washes a whopping 150 loads.  
My new front loading washer (love my new washer & dryer) uses half as much 
detergent and washes almost twice as many clothes in a load than my 
old washer and dryer (that broke in our last move).
There are so many small detergent bottles because I divide up 
the large, heavy bottle of Ecos into smaller bottles to make it easier to manage.
I moved my gift rapping supplies from my closet into this basket in the laundry room.. 
I am not real happy with the way the two baskets look together.. 
I moved two Raggedy Ann ornaments from my bathroom vanity 
to the window sill to make a collection.  I like them all together.  
I made the message board from a frame I found in the trash.
It’s hung over my kitchen sink in our last two houses.
I need to find coordinating fabric to re-cover it and dress the window.
I use the trash cans between the washer and dryer for sorting whites etc.
I got the wash rags in a white sale at Kolhs.  They cover the washer drain hose nicely.
The rags I’ve had for 20 years all but bit the dust.
I bought the mail box years ago as a place to put videos in 
that need to be returned to the store.
We have Net Flicks now and I am not sure what to do with it.
I bought the laundry baskets years ago to sort the kids’ laundry into.  
I color coded them with ribbons.  The idea was that they were to take their basket
and put their things away once a week, but instead they just use them like drawers.
They hardly even use their dressers for clothes anymore.
The posters are from DoorPost.. I don’t use them any more.. 
I need someone to give me a rule about what to keep and not keep for grandkids.
I am keeping plastic shopping bags in the container with the blue lid.. 
found it in the neighbor’s trash a couple weeks ago.
I made the shelf from left over parts from a porta-crib I slept in as a child.  
I used most of it when I made Joel and Josh’s beds a couple of years ago.
Here is my inspiring mirror.  I had a new piece of glass cut for it.  
It was a darkly stained, oak mirror with brass hooks before I painted it to match.
I used dots from the shelf paper to dress it up.  
The raincoats are handy for we have to walk Sally in the rain.
The door on the left houses our AC and the one on the right is to our half bath.
Judi’s claimed it as her bathroom and keeps it locked so no boys can use it.
If it were up to her, it’d have a shower, too.
One last piece of the porta-crib is currently holding family photos.. 
One day when my photos are more organized I’d like to change them up.
Last photo.. I love this broom/mop holder.. 
so nice to have the stuff up off the floor where it won’t fall over.
I miss it when it’s packed away.
That’s a lot of photos for one of the smallest rooms in my house.  
Don’t know if you’ll ever really be able to get a sense 
of the lay out without coming to visit in person.
We are sure looking forward to Mom and Dad coming next week.
Miss you all,
J

Van Moved In

I’ve been working really hard towards having all my boxes unpacked; 
everything either in use or thrown out.
Exceptions are in the garage.
I don’t like putting stuff in the attic.. it gets too hot up there.
This is what Mike’s side of the garage has looked like for months.
Scraping ice of your car every morning before work isn’t much fun,
so we made getting his car in the garage a priority.
The shelves hold tools, camping supplies and holiday decorations.
The totes that didn’t make it on the shelves are what’s left of the kids’ toy collection:
legos, Lincoln logs, cars, and stuffed animals.
We donated two more big bags full just a couple of weeks ago.
Ta-da!! My side of the garage today.  
We had to catabolize two of our bikes to end up with two bikes in good condition.  
Montgomery + no garage = rusty bikes.
The desk armoire won’t fit into the house until a couple of kids move out.
It has school books in it that the kids have out grown.  Grand kids??
The paper boxes are full of packing peanuts.  
One day Josh is going to sell some stuff on e-bay…
if not, I don’ think they will last long.
The chair on the armoire is broken.  I have the pieces.. but not the talent to fix it.
I really need new chairs… but it’s more fun taking weekend trips.
I hung the large list on the walls for the movers.  
Hoping they’d organize my boxes for me as they unloaded them off the truck.  
They kinda did.  One day soon I’ll climb up and take the lists down.
🙂 J

Spring Springing

Before making the trip home from Chattanooga we took a vote to see
if anyone would want to drive an extra hour to Rome, GA to eat at..
We had 3 yeses and 2 that’d be OKs, so we went.  
Mike enjoys planing his trips around food.
One funny thing about the trip was that we drove from AL to TN 
then to GA where the KOA was on the way there, 
back and forth between GA and TN while visiting attractions, 
then from GA back through TN on the way to Rome, GA to 
eat at Fuddruckers before driving home to AL.  
Kinda cool after living in Texas where 
you can drive for days and never make it out of the state.
I like to plan my trips around nature and going to Fuddruckers meant that 
we got to drive by Little River Falls in Mentone, AL.
Mike was very sweet and got out in the rain to see it with me.
It’s just a short walk from the main road.
Watching Spring spring along the way was pretty cool too.
We saw a bunch of these showy trees on our drive, 
but these trees are just around the corner from us.
This is a Bradford Pear tree

a Judus Tree
And Cherry Trees
I am loving Spring.. 
Mike has a mountain view out his widow at work.  
He said that on Tuesday that it looked just like it had all winter,
then on Wednesday it was covered in green
Love,
J

Tennessee Aquarium

While in Chattanooga, we visited their very impressive aquarium.

It was probably the nicest we’ve ever been to.
You start your tour by riding an escalator four stories up.
Then you work your way down and around all the exhibits.
Old friends from FL.
Fish we’d never touched before.
The pirana found Judi’s finger very appetizing.
They had some
really funny
looking fish.
Leafy Dragon
I am always in awe of God’s creation when I visit an aquarium.
After you finish touring one building, there’s a whole other building with another escalator.
Good thing I overcame my fear of escalators.

The second one 
has a butterfly house.
Wish we lived a little closer.
Mr. Pinquin

Doesn’t this make you want to go for a swim?
Ok maybe not here..
They called this exhibit, “Living Art.”
God’s an awesome artist.  
Love,
J

Trains by the Ton

Mike choose to camp near Chattanooga for two reasons.  
One he wanted to ride a train. 
Two he wanted to eat at…
So we went to the..
It was pretty cool.
They had nice collection of trains…
One was open to explore
It told a little about the history of trains in America
Judi’s my Vanna White
James and Joel are a little less enthusiastic.
The engine room.
We had some time to kill before the train arrived.
Their across the tracks ended in a tie.
The real ticket office..
was in the gift shop. 
This one’s for show.
The train’s a coming.
It’s pretty grand.
Mom, did you ever think you’d see your luggage in a museum?
We road 3 miles through part of Chattanooga and a tunnel.

Then we stopped at this train yard and turn around.

The turn table was the highlight of the show.
They said back in the day

4 guys would turn the train by hand
Now it’s powered by the little red engine room in the left corner.

The train balances on some mega bearings.

And turns all the way around.. 

While the engineers hooked it back up to the other end of the train..

We got to look around the yard.
They keep everything they can for parts as there aren’t any new parts in production.
The kids thought this “hippy” train was cool 
and actually asked me to take their picture with it.

Some More S’mores!

For Mike’s Birthday
He chose camping
Which means fun in the out of doors
Roasting Marshmallows
And making S’mores
Judi brought her music theory homework.
A full moon.
I wasn’t up for camping in tents this time.  So we got cabin J.
Most of the campers brought their RV’s.
See the reflection in the window?

Joel noticed that no one was outside while we were making s’mores
and playing games and asked where they had all gone.
I answered, “In side.. watching TV.”
We agreed that that wasn’t real camping.

Our cabin had two rooms.  One for Mama and Papa bear.  
I was sure to bring plenty of blankets.
And a room for the kids with two bunk beds.  
You can’t see it in the pictures but the cabin had a pretty good amount 
of floor space where we played a game of chicken foot.  
Our oldest didn’t come, so Princess J stole his mattress to make a double thick one.  
She was very proud of this trick that she learned 
from her youth pastor, Tammy, in Florida.
It was cold the first night and we were very glad to have space heaters.
The second night a rain storm blew and blew all night 
and we were very glad to have a real roof over our heads.
The best weather for tents is warm and dry.

Birds Around the Lake

The ground here stays pretty wet when it rains and the ducks and geese 
found plenty to eat in our yard.  I am glad Sally doesn’t mind them.
There are a bunch of geese that fly around to different lakes and ponds in the area.
The ducks live here.  One of our neighbors raised them from ducklings up.
Love,
J

Playing With Rocks and Things

I decided this dresser needed a little something. 
Wana come play with my rock sculpture?
I shopped around the house and garage 
to find some more rocks and things to add to my fireplace.
The kids got the drift wood as a gift from one of their friends years ago.  
I don’t think they want it anymore.

These candle holders were half off at Hobby Lobby this week.
I used them to display my sand and shell collection from FL.  

I love the way my Texas photos look in the bathroom.
It’s the one room that I can’t look out the window to the lake.
They are like little windows into TX.  

Another window ledge for rocks and shells.

This is the window we used to sneak into the house when it was being built.

I think Mike gets to look at this one more than I do.
I have one last window scape to share with a new scripture photo 
and photos from our trip to DC in mason jars over my kitchen sink.
Love,
J

More living room pictures..

To the right of my piano is this wall.  The dresser is full of photos.  
I re-did Mike’s family pictures a few weeks ago.
My book shelves are on the other side of the entry way (same wall).  
I ran out of wall space so I put a few photos up there, too.

This is our living room fire place.. 
the fire place with the trees is in the “hearth room” connected to the kitchen.
I still like my painting from WalMart but I think this fireplace looks a little boring.
I’ve never gotten around to buying candles for my pillars.
If I ever get to paint, I’d like to paint the wall the fire place is on an accent color.
It’s a little corner wall.  See the ceiling lines?

I need to take some wide angle views for you guys.
J
« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Finding Joy in Him

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑