Winter, Part II

It's a frosty, cold, windy day here at The Red House. The rain turned to snow yesterday afternoon about 2pm and continued on all afternoon and night. Then the winds picked up and the temperature dropped. We get the northeastern winds blowing down out of Canada's Fraser River Valley and they are viciously cold. Weather.com says our temperature is about 18° but feels like 9°. I don't know about you, but that's too cold for me. With the snow and such, school was cancelled today and Hubby isn't going to work, so we're all home together.

Last night Josh and I started laying out and putting up the stone on our fireplace. I've discovered I have quite a talent for applying mortar to stone. I'd slather them up, pass them to Hubby up on the ladder, and he'd put them on the fireplace. This is what we've got so far:

Today, we'll continue getting the stone up and hopefully get it finished. I think it's going to look beautiful when it's all done. I think we'll put some gray slate tiles or something down on the hearth, and combined with the dark cabinets on either side (which are hidden by the tarps), it'll be a real centerpiece for the room. Even just having these few stones up makes the fireplace really stand out, so I can't wait to see how the finished product looks.

I'm being summoned to work so I better wrap up. I'll leave you with this picture I took out my back door this morning. Looks a bit chilly, doesn't it?

Like Peas & Carrots

All the cool kids are doing this so of course I'm jumpin' on the bandwagon! This is a little meme about Josh & I.

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What are your middle names? Mine is Rene, his is Jon.

How long have you been together? August will be 11 years.

How long did you know each other before you started dating? We met 4th of July 1998 and went on our first date about a month later.

Who asked whom out? I think I may have told him he was taking me out. We went and saw There's Something About Mary on our first date.

How old are each of you? We're both 37 although I'm 3 whopping months older, which he never lets me forget.

Whose siblings do you see the most? Probably my sister since she lives here in town and watches Zoë occasionally for us.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Remembering to take time to ourselves, to work on our relationship.

Are you from the same home town? Nope.

Who is smarter? Hmmm. I'm no dummy but he knows way more about world events, politics, history...you know, all that "adult" stuff.

Who is the most sensitive? He is.

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Various Mexican restuarants.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Geesh, not very far. Probably Ashland, Oregon.

Who has the craziest exes? Neither of us.

Who has the worst temper? Probably me. Somewhat of a long fuse, but a big bang at the end.

Who does the cooking? Me, because I enjoy it.

Who is the neat-freak? Me. I hate clutter. Although I've named Josh "Captain Throwaway" because he loves to throw away stuff.

Who is more stubborn?
 I don't think either of us are very stubborn, but I might have a slight lead if I had to choose.

Who hogs the bed?
 The cats. :)

Who wakes up earlier? Josh does. Always has, even before kids.

Where was your first date?
 We went and saw There's Something About Mary.

Who is more jealous? I don't think either of us really are.

How long did it take to get serious?
 I knew I loved him about 4.5 months after we started dating. It took him longer to admit his feelings.

Who eats more?
 He does. And the speed at which he does so is impressive.

Who does the laundry? Me. Damnit.

Who’s better with the computer?
He's better at fixing them and troubleshooting stuff. I'm good at using them.

Who drives when you are together? Unfortunately, I do. And that's only because ever since being pregnant with Zoë, I get carsick if I'm the passenger. So now I basically drive everywhere. And if he drives, I just go to sleep.

Sanctuary

The house is continuing to evolve, with tasks and decorating being done gradually and continuously. I've been working on our bedroom, trying to create a comfortable space for us to relax in.

My goal was to create a beach themed bedroom, with colors that reflected the water and sand. Initially, I'd planned on painting the bedroom blue but after putting the same color on the bathroom walls, I found I couldn't stomach that much blue. It was just too blue. (If you recall, I repainted the bathroom shortly after painting it blue.) So, at the 11th hour, I changed wall colors for the bedroom and was thrilled with the result. Even now, I lay in bed, look at the room and am really happy with my choice. I kind of wish I'd painted the living room the same color.

I still wanted some blue in the bedroom but decided that a blue comforter would provide enough color. I found this set on overstock.com and decided that the print kind of looked like sea grass or something. Whether it does or not, I like it. And Hubby has been surprisingly vocal about how much he likes the room, which I appreciate. I want us both to like our house, not just me.


There still are elements I want to add, and more beach prints to frame, but that will come with time (and money). I'm enjoying creating a space that we can retreat to, one that we are comfortable in and are proud of.

I'm really happy with the way it's turning out. And looking around at it, I again am reminded how incredibly blessed I am and how much I love this new home of our's.

Wordless Wednesday

Zoë & I enjoyed a rare afternoon stop at the park to take advantage of some winter sunshine and she found her smiles!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Pecking Away

Greetings & Salutations! Man, is it Friday already? Well, I don't know about YOU but my week started off with a bang.

I got home from work Sunday night about midnight and just wasn't feeling well. I couldn't tell you specifically what was wrong; I just felt off and very unwell. And cold. So I crawled into bed, tried to read and discovered I couldn't even do that I felt so bad. I turned off the light and just laid there, shivering and covered in goosebumps. I might have dozed finally, but I woke up shivering and my teeth chattering. I finally nudged Hubby and asked him to snuggle me because I was freezing, which he willingly did and then noticed that I was burning up. He got out of bed and got me some Tylenol and milk which I managed to get down, but for the rest of the night I could do nothing more than doze. I was physically miserable: my stomach didn't feel right, my head was starting to pound, my wrists and arms were killing me and my back was aching. It was a long night.

Thankfully, I didn't even have to ask Hubby to stay home from work the next morning. I think my misery was quite evident. The rest of the day was spent trying to get comfortable, trying to sleep and trying not to throw up. I did not succeed at any on these tasks. I finally was driven from my bed by the back pain and ended up in my recliner in the living room, with a washrag over my eyes to soothe my head and block out the blinding sun (why don't we have blinds in the living room yet?!!), trying to sit upright and give my back a break. It was a long day. One little gem of wisdom I learned, and will now share with you, is that it is unwise, EXTREMELY UNWISE, to partake of a potluck at work the night before any form of vomiting. Particularly a potluck where you eat copious amounts of taco salad and red Thai curry. 'Nuff said. You're welcome.

On Tuesday I gave myself a Get Out of Jail Free card and lazed around the house, doing absolutely nothing productive except getting Sam to school. And actually, I had just gotten out of the shower (around noon) when the school called and said he wasn't feeling well and could I come get him. Turned out he was fine; I think he just had played a little hard at recess because he was a rambunctious little goat at home the rest of the day while I played on the computer recouperated.

Wednesday Sam got out of school early and Hubby was done with work early, so we fled the country in search of furniture. Ok, so that sounds a bit more exciting and worldly than it really was. We crossed the border into Canada and went to IKEA to look at some couches. After spending far too little time there, we managed to bring home a couch, two new nightstands, two lamps, and some art. Lord knows the kind of damage I could have done had I been allowed to browse and actually look at everything.

Yesterday I attempted to clean up the house a bit, but to be honest, I still don't feel great and am still having a few, uh, intestinal issues. I have very little appetite and when I do eat, toast is about the only thing that sounds good. I've been in a funk since being sick on Monday, so much so that even Hubby commented "Boy you just haven't been yourself since you were sick." I've been snapping at the kids, sullen and unsmiley, and have lost interest in most everything. Yesterday afternoon we managed to get to the stone supplier to pick out rock for our fireplace, which is still unrocked. I think it's going to beautiful when we get it put up - I love the stuff we picked out.

Today, Zoë and I are heading out to run a few errands and then we'll be heading to Sam's classroom for his Valentine's party. Fortunately the sun is shining, although it's windy and VERY cold, so I'm hoping a little sun in my face (through the car windows) will perk me up a bit.

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Lately I've been feeling like I'm being pecked to death by ducks. Zoë has been especially demanding and clingy and WHINEY, oh my stinkin' hell, the whining....is killing me. And Sam has been SO argumentative. If he gets an answer he doesn't like, he just keeps on asking and whining and asking and whining and ASKING and WHINING until I want to gag him and throw him in a closet. And they seem to feed off each other so I get it from both sides at once. It's all I can do to keep my head from exploding.

Zoë also has grown quite the attitude for an almost 3.5 year old. If I scold her or tell her to do something, she flicks at me with her tiny fingers with this look on her face, like I'm an annoying bug she can just flick away. Grrrr.....

{sigh....} This too shall pass. I hope.

Sunny Saturday

Happy Saturday!

The sun in shining in my windows and I'm happily puttering around my house, doing chores that normally would make me wail and gnash my teeth. But the sunshine makes it all better. That, combined with some Mozart & Chopin blasting throughout the house and I'm a whirling dervish. So far, I've made bread (which is rising and almost ready to bake), cleaned the kitchen, stood & daydreamed out my kitchen window about my garden-to-be, vaccumed and dusted, thrown some laundry in and folded a load of clean clothes. It's amazing how my energy level and motivation skyrockets when the sun is shining. Seriously, if I lived somewhere that was sunny year-round? No telling what I could accomplish.

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I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed (still!) at all I have/want to do. Fortunately, the hard labor of building this house is mostly over, but now comes the maintaining of it as well as finishing up things. Plus, being here has flipped my inspiration switch on big time and I'm constantly coming up with more things I want to do.

I finally whined to Hubby that he needed to do some of the stuff I was avoiding because I seriously didn't have energy to deal with it. Stuff like calling the property management place and getting that whole mess straightened out. (The mess being that they sent us a bill for $450 after we moved out, claiming we weren't supposed to have cats, when we wrote on our application that we had two cats and had been told when we called to inquire about the house that, yes indeed, pets were allowed yet they apparently failed to collect a pet deposit. So they kept the $500 deposit we'd put down AND wanted $450 more. Oh, and they wanted to charge us $100 for the very cheap dryer knobs that had broken. Josh looked them up: they cost $8.) Anyway, he talked to the property manager and got it all straightened out, much calmly-er (is to a word) than I would have and we should be getting part of our deposit back. Phew.

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I owe you some kitchen pictures too, don't I? Well, here you go.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend too!

Beauty

I've been wanting to take this picture for months. And today I finally did.

It was a lovely sunny day and I threw my camera in the car when I headed to town, thinking I might take Zoë to the park after hitting the store. On the way home, I pulled over to the side of the road to capture my house and the mountain. See my house down there in the bottom right corner?

Living out "in the county" now (which is how people refer to it around here when you live out of the city limits out in or towards any of the smaller neighboring towns), I've encountered lots of wide open spaces, wildlife and other scenes that I really want to photograph. For example, there's an old falling-down barn not too far away that I want a picture of. The mountain would be in the background too, so I want to make sure it's a clear day. But even just the barn with some ominous storm clouds behind it would be really cool. There's another shot of the mountain I want to get too, just up the road from where I took this one. Yesterday on my way home from taking Sam to school, I saw two ginormous bald eagles sitting in a cow pasture about 50 yards off the road. I wish I'd had my camera; they were beautiful.

So much beauty out here in the country, even in the dead of winter. I can't wait until spring and summer.