The Little House in the Weed Patch

Much progress has been made on our little house, and we are amazed at how quickly this is now coming together. Day 1 was on 10/2 and started with excavation. Here are some pictures showing how much has been completed in just 9 days!!

Below: the hole in the ground (sorry about the night-time photo) and one other sure sign that there are men at work:

Day 2: the footings are started; meanwhile, the trees all around are turning a lovely color and providing quite the view from our soon-to-be windows.

Day ?? (I haven't kept track very well) - A foundation and vapor barrier. On a side note - a beautiful sunrise glowing golden and lavender brought great joy this week.

And yesterday (day 9)...tada! Walls! At least on the 1st floor - one more floor to go!

Photo 1 - Hubby checking out the garage; Photo 2 - a view from the future backyard; Photo 3 - the view from the future family room windows; Photo 4 - I check out the 1/2 bath

This is all very exciting! I can't wait to be living there...finally! We are on track to be in before Christmas!! And I'm using a lot of exclamation points!! There will be more photos as things progress.

A List of things that make me smile:

· The sound of snowflakes falling on a still night
· Singing along to Charlie Rich’s “Philadelphia Baby”
· The Snake River canyon
· Bacon
· Neutrogena healthy skin glow sheers
· Globe willows
· Singing Christmas Carols year-round
· Songbirds – there is a particular one, but I have yet to identify it
· The rhythm of a paddle
· Pinking shears
· Choxie
· Retractable cords
· Yellow tomatoes
· Tidy little spreadsheets
· Flipflops
· Refried beans
· Leaves crunching under my feet
· A new haircut
· Prescription sunglasses
· Home-made soup of any kind

Mr. Birthday

We celebrated hubby's birthday recently. Since his birthday falls at the very end of the fire season, it is a rare occasion to celebrate it on the actual day. This year was different - he got home on birthday eve, and I was so excited to see him that I let him open all of his presents that night! Oops! But at least the piece-de-reistance was saved for a few hours until he thought there were no more presents to be had! Here he is enjoying his gift a few days later:



Since our 5th-wheel living quarters limit our entertaining abilities, we celebrated with his family a few days later by meeting at a local diner for pie and coffee - yum and comfort! Lovely Black Canyon carmel apple pie!

And then to Dad's to open even more presents - this time with a little help!

Ah, such fun, the week of birthday!

Shameless Repetition

I do have things to say and pictures to post, but not a lot of time at home in which to get it done. So, I am shamelessly filling space with a "note" that I posted on facebook in July. Pardon my laziness and redundancy if you've already read it there!

7/19/07: My hope is revived! Last night I caught the last part of Conan O'Brien's interview with Vera Farmiga. I didn't even know who she was when I turned on the tv, but she has now become my favorite celeb (I've never had one of those before). Why? Because she can speak. Intelligently. Her grammar is excellent. She uses interesting words - not just big words to sound smart but truly well-chosen words that are spoken easily and appear to actually be part of her regular vocabulary (refreshingly sans malapropisms). Her speech is art. This is rare. Sadly, this isn't E! newsworthy and will never outshine current stories of celebs-in-rehab, but I wish it could. If only tweens, teens, and beyond could be bombarded with more such images...we might actually be able to encourage a culture of identifiably intelligent, articulate, delightfully communicative - and even a little bit decorous - people.

Home is where…

For the past 3 weeks I have been homeless. Well, homeless in the logistical sense of the word, more accurately on a journey of discovering what “home” means. In the process of building our new house we have experienced the joy of a quick and easy sale of our original house, and the frustration of a few paperwork delays on our new land parcel. The result – all non-essential belongings are in storage and we are living in a fifth wheel trailer belonging to some very generous friends, parked next door to the home of the same very generous friends. I am often reminded of the times that I thought it would be neat to live a simple life on a very small scale – doable…but maybe not my choice for permanent living quarters.

The highlight of it all is finding that I don’t feel homeless. The “Lady of the House” next door…a.k.a. my roommate (I use their bathroom and am free to wander about), a.k.a. my landlord (they own our current lodgings), a.k.a. my business partner (we dabble in some real estate together), is my wonderful friend Julia. We both have husbands with busy travel schedules, so it is often just us and her children. I am welcome in the gorgeous, newly remodeled kitchen and am enjoying having some extra tummies to fill. I Love to cook! It is nice to have the kids ask me when I’m coming home, and when they can come over for a sleepover. It blessed my heart that my laundry was magically done and folded the other day.

It might be 3 more months before we have a house again. Who knows how our living arrangements might change between now and then? The novelty of small-scale living might wear off, and I might pine for a few more square feet and a full-sized pantry. But I’m glad to be experiencing this truth – that Home is a state of mind for me. As long as I have a cozy nest in which to curl up and sleep, somebody to cook dinner for, and people in my life who like me just the way I am – even as I look when I’ve just rolled out of bed – then I am at home. To be a bit cliché, “My cup runneth over.”