I Say We Party

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good party ...a theme party...big parties, small parties, garden parties, dinner parties, drinks parties, tea parties...who the heck cares people - let's gather and celebrate!
My parents threw great parties when I was a kid, we weren't always a part of the action but I always paid close attention to all of the planning my mom was doing, the food she was making and such, filing that info away in my "someday" file. Since dad passed away mom has created her own style of party, a neighborhood Christmas coffee gathering,a cousin get-together, last summer she even hosted a block party!
Tuesday night she played hostess again, and it was lovely...if I do say so myself.
My nephew got married in a civil ceremony and my mom, my sister and I couldn't let such a memorable occasion pass without a celebration. Mom ordered a cake and made finger sandwiches, I made a couple of appie trays ...we all bought a couple (or several) bottles of champagne and presto-partio!
I forgot my camera so I don't have a single photo of the bride and groom, the cake...nothin'...silly me. I found this one of me, mom, my niece, sissy and her hubby. It was taken this past June at my niece's graduation from college...


from the left, moi, mom, darling niece, sissy, sissy's hubby
the party peeps - my sissy isn't so much into party planning but she's my go-to girl for recipe taste testing...her hubby too...they're so much fun to cook for because they're enthusiastic with their appreciation - what's not to love about that after a long stint in the kitchen?
Now that I don't have a single party on the calendar until May it's time for the Jan-Feb pantry, fridge, freezer clean-out. I do it every January, go through the cupboards etc and get creative making odd meals out of odds and ends. We've taken to calling these meals "freezer surprise", I must admit they're not always a hit, but the good Dutch girl in me believes in the whole "waste not want not" quote so on we go.
Now about those 8 bottles of champagne leftover from the wedding reception Tuesday evening...I think I should call my sissy and niece for a little taste testing.

Garden Dreams and Water Features

Gorgeous no?
This is the fountain at my friend Saundra's house.
The fountain is situated on the front walk to her home.
I covet it.
I pretty much covet Saundra's whole house and garden...except for her property taxes and maintenance costs...she can keep those.

January is when I start thinking about gardening, when I itch to get my fingers into the soil - but I can't because every square inch of soil here at this old farm is a muddy mucky mess...
so I dream.
Lately I've been dreaming of water features...especially fountains like Saundra's.
Except today, when my dreams of water fountains came true.
In my kitchen.
My kitchen sink became a lovely water feature, shooting water straight up into the air, onto the window and all over me and the counters and floors.
I bet that doesn't happen at Saundra's house, Saundra's faucets wouldn't dream of exploding all over her kitchen - Saundra runs a tight ship.

On a happy note, Moen is sending me a replacement faucet.
Thank You Moen, for not making me jump through a lot of hoops and standing behind your warranty.
Disclaimer* The nice guy that I talked to from Moen didn't ask me to say nice things about them, he doesn't even know that I have a blog that nobody reads.
I can't say that he doesn't know who I am except he does, cuz he's sending me a new faucet. I doubt he knows that when you blog and say nice things about faucet makers that you also have to say that they aren't paying you to say those nice things.
I wonder how much we paid our elected officials to make up those silly rules, oops...I think that's another post - for another day.


I shall resume my dreams of water features..but I shall be more specific, all water features must be outdoors.

Back on the Ladder...Again

In keeping with the age old remodeler mantra "as long as we're at it", I decided to get rid of the heavily textured walls by applying several coats of drywall mud.
I've been craving flat walls for years, this is my chance, before the new floors go down and we wrap up this silly little project.
It's a lot of work...but it's pretty good exercise, what the heck - I have the time since finding a "real job" doesn't seem to be in the cards.
It seems like I've been at it forever - I sorta have...five skim coats takes a lot of time.
Of course there have been interruptions, many in fact.
It goes like this, mud - party, mud - party, mud - party...
Sling mud, put all mud stuff away and wipe the house down for a party.
Host the extended family Christmas party.
Sling mud, put all mud stuff away and wipe down the house for a party.
Have all the neighbors over for dinner since our closest neighbor and renter is moving away (insert sad face).
Sling mud, put all mud stuff away and wipe down the house for a party.
Have the "Seattle Girls" over for a ladies luncheon.

The ladder is back in the house, the mud stuff is out and I don't have a party on my calender...
I offered to have a wedding reception at my house last night but my mom stepped in and had it at her home.
Looks like I just might finish this monster before the first day of spring...

Unless of course I can think of another reason for a party.

Merry Christmas!

It's all good.
It's fun, it's crazy, it's exhausting.
It's been too long since I've posted but I
want to take a moment to wish everyone
a very Merry Christmas.

photo of the Chihuly glass art taken at Meijer Gardens
in Grand Rapids, Michigan...so beautiful

At Least It's Not Snowing

And we have power.
Sure...it's cold.
But there aren't any big snow drifts.
The water lines aren't frozen (yet).
Look honey...there's a beautiful ice skating rink in the back yard,
look how the sunlight makes it all look so pretty.
Oh goodness..the ice skating rink even goes into the barn!
We can do a loop-de-loop!
Let's call our friends and have an ice skating party ;)
We'll have to move some of the furniture...oh wait...it's stuck to the floor by the ice....oh well...they'll just have to skate around the furniture.


Isn't it pretty?

It reminds me of that pretty pond we had in the back yard last summer.


Denial...it's a good thing.
Just trying to make a positive out of a negative.
Life is good.
Ice dams in the ditch in front of my house are good.
No..really...it's all just stinking good.
;)

Man Camp Week

It's "Man Camp Week" in the Methow Valley.
Oh yes...deer hunting season.
Where 99% of the hunters make the other 1% look bad.
Every year it's the same story. We're working on our property, we cross paths with a hunter, we tell the hunter he's on private property.
Hunter tells us he's on state owned land.
He has a map in his truck.
He's been hunting here for years.
We don't know where our property lines are.
He has permission from the owner.
Those fence wires were cut when he got here.
The gate was open.
There aren't any No Trespassing No Hunting signs.

I'm curious.
Are all these corny excuses printed in the Hunters Manual?
Because every cornball camo wearing beer guzzling binocular peering doofus in a pickup truck going 30 mph in a 50 and shootin' from the side of the road seems to spew the same drivel.

There...I feel better.
Thanks.

Ladders and Bits and Pliers...Oh My!

And saws and dust and giant messes.
Soooo...the "remodel recess" is over - time to start whacking away again, on to the dining room!
More layers of flooring to peel back, once again we're having to cut a grid with a skill saw and use pry bars, hammers - and lots of muscle.
Just like the kitchen, five layers.
Berber carpet, over glued down 70's "indoor/outdoor" - isn't that what they called it? The indoor outdoor was glued down to some old 60's beige fake stone linoleum...which was glued down to plywood - which was megga nailed into some groovy 40's linoleum-ish stuff that I kinda like. Under all those layers is the original t&g fir flooring which is in pretty tough shape.
I'm throwing in the towel on that one and covering it up with a floating wood floor.
I'm tough...but not that tough, no more refinishing of wood floors for this girl...at least not on the main floor.
Upstairs?
Maybe ;)