The LAST Door Makeover. .and Some Other Stuff!

By now, you may be wondering if we are about out of doors that needed painting. .

the answer is a good, solid YES!!

This door that goes out onto our west deck. .was the last one.

Jeremy decided that it would be easiest to paint this one ON the frame. .since the inside didn't really need paint. .Boy was I glad. .since my job is to tape up all the windows. .and that requires doing the same procedure on BOTH sides of the door.

Cami stole my camera and snapped some intriguing photos of her dad spraying on the primer. .

It's been a month in the making! The new light fixtures that I bought wouldn't hang where the old light fixtures were. .and Jeremy R-E-F-U-S-E-D to take the aluminum siding off so we could hang them where I wanted them to hang. .He refused because he would have had to start at the top taking one row of siding off at a time until he got down to the door. All I could say was. .that I couldn't blame him. One 1 X 10 board painted green solved that problem. .and I love the lights!! I should have snapped a closer view!

In other news. .

School started yesterday for three kids. .

and PRESCHOOL started today for small girl!

The older boys had football practice at 5:45 A.M!! So, yours truly ALSO has to be functioning by then to make sure they are ready! Blech! It sounded like they both had a good day at high school, though it was a short one. Today is a full schedule. Along with the usual math and science classes they have some electives like food and nutrition, wood science and art. .they are encouraged that they will like the mix. Devin had a good day too. .his class was split in half this year and so he will have a much smaller class. .but since they all hook up at recess and lunch, he was good with that!

And because my daycare provider ROCKS. .

and with the help of modern technology. .

I got to see my excited girl get on that bus, just minutes after she actually did!! Thanks Becky!! Becky's message told me that Cami's last words to her were questions regarding WHAT Becky was going to do with Cami gone and WHAT were the daycare kids eating for snack this afternoon. .that's MY girl!! She will get to ride the bus home with Devin after school. .so hopefully they can keep each other entertained and stay out of their dad's hair. .that is, if he had any hair to stay out of!

I know that I haven't posted any pictures of what is going on in the garden lately. .mostly because the answer is NOT MUCH!! Though it has cooled down to the 90's this week, with promises of a few days in the 80's. .plants are just rebelling!! The four oclocks got HUGE while we were gone. .and a few sphinx moths have been hanging around sipping on them. We have spotted a ruby throated hummingbird at the feeder lately. .Surely she has tried the flowers out too!

If you have been around my blog for any length of time, you may recall that I usually have some vines planted in my garden by God. The vine in my memory garden this summer. .

. .has little tiny watermelons on it. .which is good, because the melon vines in the garden aren't looking too great!

These miniature hollyhocks were transplanted several years ago from my mom's garden. They have continued to grow and spread from where I originally put them. .Some of them spreading into what used to be the lawn (before the drought and heat). One evening when it was about 108, I decided that I should move some of those into gardens where they wouldn't just get mowed off. They never missed a beat, and have continued to bloom since. Just now they are starting to grow upright instead of along the ground. They should fill in a nice section of purple into the memory garden!

The red salvia has been blooming their little heads off. If I can beat the seed to the ground, I think I will sow this into another garden too. .It's such a vibrant little plant!

The yellow native snapdragon has put out a new flush of color. the maple tree barely visible to the right side of the photo is being killed by a mole. Thankfully, when my MIL was caring for my plants while I was on vacation, she recognized it. I thought it was being stressed from the heat. She dug out grass at the base of the tree and noted the mole tunnels. Turns out, that on several other struggling specimens, mole tunnels are present at each one too. We've been trying to drown it. .and I used a mole bomb (which was fun-but didn't seem to work) and last night finally googled for a solution. .coming up with not much. I may try to apply nematodes to the bases of the trees/shrubs affected. .since the other viable option of trapping him, has proved difficult for us in the past! Anyone have any good advice? So now, in addition to dragging hoses, I am routinely trying to stomp tunnels down to protect the roots!

The cabbage in my ornamental bed are making heads. Something is nibbling on them too. .but at this point. .I don't care! The gardens have been hot and dry and windy and nearly fruitless. .I'm afraid my humor is about shot with it too! Bah humbug!! I'm starting to feel like the gardening grinch!!

I did start some seeds the night we got home from vacation to go in the greenhouse this winter. .maybe I'll have better luck with that!

Fall will be here soon. .

Enjoy your "back to school" days!!

Recap of My Favorite Memories!

So. .not a lot left to say about our vacation. .

but I did accumulate some favorite photos during the week. .

and I wanted to share them candidly with my friends and family!

Let me know which one is YOUR favorite!!

Oh. .and it CAN'T be one of my stupid expression pics from earlier this week

:-) HA

Lots of testosterone=lots of competitions!!

And this one was spurred by the Olympic divers!!

Ready. .

Set. .

You MUST take a very close look at Cami's expression. .

PRICELESS!

He did NOT land this gracefully!!

But look at the air, baby, look at the air!!

That's all that really matters to these guys!

The view from my favorite spot!

A curly headed, freckle faced, blue eyed monster DIVA!!

Classic around here. .

"Hey, steer this a minute will ya??"

My man READS maps!!

Learned some new things about my camera (that I've had for 2 years!)

My favorite photo of the WHOLE week!!

And it would have been fair champion material. .

had his little ole head NOT been blurry!!

Not sure whether I mentioned that he ripped his hamstring the week before we left. .so this was the first. .

and LAST time up on his ski during vacay!! Good thing he likes to ride IN his boat almost as much as he likes to ride OUT of his boat!!

These two were a hoot to watch doing doubles. .they would ski just close enough to absolutely DRENCH the other with the spray coming off the ski. .and then ski back to their little corner of the rope, laughing all the way!

It WAS as peaceful as it seems!

Petting the starfish at Oklahoma Aquarium!

I SO need me an aquarium FULL of these jellyfish!! 

They were REALLY cool to see!

I'm at a loss of words!

The boys are getting to be good drivers too. .most of the time anyway!

Color accent on my Canon SX30 IS. .one of the best "small" cameras I have ever met!!

There's NO water. .

Like GLASS water!!

That's all from around these parts. .

Have a blessed weekend!!

Our GRAND Lake Adventure. .

My version of "vacation" is to go somewhere we have never been. .

and DO the town. .

seeing ABSOLUTELY everything we can before it is time to leave. .

coming home as exhausted as we were when we left. .

but full of new experiences and culturing activities.

Jeremy's idea of vacation is to. .

go somewhere quiet. .

with no reason to go out into the public. .

or speak to people. .

pretty much just hibernating.

So, three years ago. .

we agreed. .

on a trip to Lake Eufala in Oklahoma. .

under the condition. .

that there would be NO tents involved.

He searched online and found a nice 3 bedroom house right on the lake. .

his big question was. .

2 nights or 3.

After I talked him into 4 nights. .

last year his question was. .2 weeks or 10 days??

We really enjoy the downtime. .and it will apparently become a family tradition to do a week at the lake. The last 2 years we have spent the time at Grand Lake. .which is closer and cleaner.

He starts looking in January to see what houses are available to rent. Then he gives me a list of 4 or 5 with the amenities and pictures. .and I pick. Here was our house this year. .which was listed as being "on a bluff." Laughing about some of the homes we saw from the lake last year high up in the trees. .we hoped it wasn't one of those. When we looked at the photos again last month. .the owner had updated them. .and noted that there were 82 steps. Still laughing. .

We had NO idea until we saw them. .

And there were 92 steps from the house down to the boat slip on the water.

So many steps and so steep that we noted made the discovery of 

THIS. .

inscribed into the top of the last step pretty comical.

It was a nice house with a great view. .but the steps were really, really brutal!! Especially when your 4 year old decides she needs to POOP 10 minutes after you got down them. .

Really, Cami. .REALLY!!!

We enjoyed sleeping in a bit (if you consider 7:30 late). .

and our favorite water games. .

wakeboarding. .

knee boarding. .

skiing. .

and swimming!!

You may have noticed all the trees surrounding the house. .great for a bird watcher's dreams!! There were at least a half dozen ruby throated hummers around the trees from sun-up to sunset!! We loved that!! I didn't know that hummers made much noise. .but they squeak and bicker like my kids!! They were a hoot to watch. .

and photograph!!

They enchanted all of us with their petite stature and playful games. Along with the usual geese, ducks, herons, and egrets on the water. .we saw cardinals, chickadees, titmice, doves, and bluejays. .Fun indeed!

On my bucket list from last year, was "boating in" to a restaurant. We did that this year. .and enjoyed a great restaurant along the water. It was a little nerve wracking to leave all our camera equipment in a boat that you can't lock, in a "parking lot" with other boats. .but no problems were incurred!

Another thing that we did included a short drive to Tulsa to do some school shopping one day. We enjoyed a trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium while there. .

The kids petted fish. .

Enjoyed the jelly fish exhibits. .

and walked through a shark tube. We weren't there at the right time to pet the sharks. .but we did watch them feed the piraunas, electric eel, and archer fish (which are crazy little fish that spit at the insects flying OUT of the water, knocking them INTO the water to be consumed for lunch-isn't God's sense of adventure AWESOME??).

On the way back to the lake house, we stopped off at this McDonalds, which at one time, was considered the worlds largest McDonalds. The huge golden arch spans aross the top of Interstate 44. .

Unfortunately, we got in the restaurant and found that they didn't serve ice cream. .

so we took our pictures. .

and went to Braums!

This family LIKES our ice cream!!

The rest of the week was spent relaxing on the boat. .

. .and in the water.

We learned how to ski . .

and wake board double. .
 without injuring anyone. .

Cami and I enjoyed pedicures while watching TV.

Some people like to be TV-free during vacation. .

as someone who never watches TV because there isn't enough time in my day. .

I LOVED it!!

I enjoyed the Olympics (my proverbial "bucket list" includes watching them IN PERSON someday!) a few episodes of Pawn Stars. .and some show new-to-me that showcased crazy guys buying houses from ONLY the outside appearance. .and trying to fix them and flip them to make a profit for themselves. .darned if I can remember the name of the show though!

We ate good. .

I love to cook. .and I LOVE to try new recipes when I have the time and energy!! We enjoyed several recipes from Pioneer Woman's new cookbook that I hadn't had time to try out!!

We made smores in the outdoor firepit. .in a rainstorm the first time! We didn't mind. .we haven't seen rain for a while. .and as badly as northeast Oklahoma needed the rain. .we were more than glad to enjoy theirs!!

Saturday took a turn for the worse, when the propeller on the boat was damaged by a rock causing a bad vibration in the vessel. .that was unknowingly FIXED Saturday night when Jeremy used a pliers to bend the prop dent out. .

So in the meantime, thinking it was not really driveable. .

Sunday found us looking for new props at the boat shops (lake related industries take a Tues and Wednesday weekend, instead of Sat/Sun). No props anywhere. .

BUT. .

the boys came home with a new toy instead!!

A wake surfboard.

Jeremy knew the prop would be good at a slow speed. .which is just what this toy takes. .8-12 mph to make a big fat water-wake to surf on!! I almost preferred the triple flipping skips across the lake to the head-knocking, neck twisting, sinus-enema that I got everytime I crashed off this little princess. It was a little different because you had nothing holding your feet to the board, other than gravity. .and if you broke that by trying to move the foot on the board a smidge. .you were looking up from under a wave!

But after we discovered that the vibration problem had been fixed with his twist of the pliers. .

it was back to high speed water skiing until sunset!!

And up again early to do it just ONE MORE TIME before coming home Monday!!

Even Cami was ready to come home by Monday. .she had been begging to go to the party cove up the lake to see if there were any "children" there. .as she was tired of playing "only with my brothers!"

Vacation is great fun. .

but it is nice to be productive, it's nice to be back to a routine. .

and it's a very nice reminder that. .

THERE IS 

NO 

PLACE LIKE HOME!!

Thanks for stopping by today. .

I have saved the best of the favorite pictures for one more post. .

You DIDN'T forget that I mentioned taking 250-something photos, 

did you??

Come back soon!