Packing Surprise-Santa

While packing today I came across one of my all time favorite Christmas decorations:

My Grandma's Santa.

He was given to my daughter by my Uncle Bud.

Santa is from the 1950's and I can vividly remember seeing him on the table by the very cool silver glitter Christmas tree that featured colored spotlights. So nice!

Check out those white boots-sweet!

Okay, Back to Reality-Mud Pond

My rose-colored garden glasses were quickly replaced by a large, dark pop-up rainstorm. The humidity has been about 80%, so something had to give.



My partially dug courtyard pond was quickly filled. It rained about 1.5 inches in 1 hour! Serious rain, horizontal rain with more predicted for tonight.

Maybe we will open a spa, specializing in mud baths.

The Enchanted Garden

This is my new garden-it is a hidden garden full of beautiful flowers that I do not know the names of.


After sorting out the weeds I am struck by the beauty of these delicate plants that have been waiting for me to arrive. The previous gardener had a magic touch and I think she left some magic behind.



Later I will think about broken air conditioners and a leaky roof and other things-

For now I will sit deep in my garden and look for beautiful fairies and pixies dancing under the leaves and imagine the dreams my daughter and I will share as we grow this Enchanted Garden together.

(click on photos to enlarge,

then use the back button to return to post)

Organizational Purgatory

It is now 2 weeks until we move into our new house.

So I need to begin packing in earnest-for real- the we are really moving sort of packing. I practiced packing when I moved quite a bit of "stuff" into a storage unit a couple of months ago. But as I sit here now I am reluctant to enter into the deep dark recesses of the real packing zone.


You see I have been in Organizational Purgatory (OP) for several weeks and I am afraid to go further.


Organizational Purgatory: (OP) a condition that affects all people who are moving their stuff from one location to another. OP is characterized by thinking that you are organized and everything is under control, but you can't find things-or at least not important things that you need in a hurry because someone is waiting on the phone for the info. or you need to make a major life decision or the roof is leaking and you need the number to call someone. People with OP can frequently be heard saying "I just had it! I know I just had it in my hand!"

It makes me sweat and swear.

Within one week I lost my good watch, then I borrowed my daughter's and lost it and finally I went to the Big Box Store and bought a $4.95 watch that I still have.

There is no cure and you can't go back-so I will go forward... Hey, has anyone seen my glasses? I'm sure I just had them.

The Target 161-What a Concrete Cutting Machine!

(click on photo to enlarge)

Yesterday the concrete in the courtyard was cut. This is the Target 161 Saw-notice the saw blade -That blade means business.

After they were finished the slab looked like a birthday cake cut into perfect pieces. Today they carted these big, heavy pieces through the house. There were piers every 4 ft!! A hot, heavy job! More work to do-they are not finished yet. Word is we need another dumpster!

House Hunter 101: The Quest for the WOW House

I was not prepared for the Home Hunting experience. I had been in training for 10 years as a HGTV "House Hunters" junkie and a voracious reader of anything real estate.

This was my first home purchase and I wanted to be prepared-I didn't want to get caught with my wallet open. Well, lets just say my education was a bit lacking.

It took me 16 years to get my husband to even look at another house. He's very loyal.

We've lived in our current home 16+ years, its a beautiful 1957, Mid-Century Modern Gem. I love it , but I was ready for a Home of my Own. My good hub purchased it before we married-so it has always been a bit of "his" house for me. It is also located on a high traffic street which for a country girl doesn't really work.

As we began our search, a pattern developed as many of the homes we saw or viewed on the internet acquired a nickname. Right out of the gate, I knew I was not having the TV experience:

The first house we looked at: The Very Scary House-empty but occupied by 2 squatters and 2 very big, mean German Shepherd dogs. Ohhh---not so good.

The Wood House- nice home, but when it rained you had to run home and turn something so the sewer didn't back up into the basement? No thanks.

The Forget-About-It House- Bad, bad vibe + a very confusing floor plan. I don't think I want to know what really happened in or to the house. It's still on the market.

Others: The Lake House, The Window House, The Mayflower House, The Country House, The Sunflower House, The Purple (yes) House and The Plunger House (you can draw your own conclusions)...

The WOW House: The eventual winner-When I first saw the virtual tour of this most unusual courtyard house on the Internet, I couldn't stop saying WOW! My poor daughter was shocked. The house had strikes against it-it needed work and it needed more work and it had a minuscule master bath...but when I saw it -it was a TV moment.

I'm not a person who goes around with a "dream house" image in my head-I just didn't have one. But, when I saw that house-I knew. The WOW house is a piece of art.

But, since being cautious is my middle name, those strikes against it were big. I kept looking. But the WOW House never left the top of the list. Every other house was compared and fell short against it.

After much self-induced drama I decided it really was the one. I think my hub and daughter had known for a while, but they gave me time to think it was my idea.

So its ours, signed sealed and delivered which is A Real Life Moment!

Tools are Cool

It is amazing to me how many skills are accumulated in life through sheer necessity. There you are trying to get out the backdoor and the handle is falling off. So you run and get a screwdriver and figure out what the problem is, you "fix-it"- end of task. Or how about when the brake lights on the car go out and you need a new fuse or when your kid's handlebars are wobbly.

I learned to fix things at an early age. I am fortunate enough to have a Mom who had a toolbox, before it was Cool to have Tools. Now, I'm not talk'in those pretty pink handled delicate tools-I mean the "real deal". She has a neat little toolbox in the closet and she uses it.

Since I grew up on a farm I learned early on that the best times to break things was during the winter. If you got in a little bind during harvest-forget it- you need to figure it out yourself or wait until it rains. Then the real handy guys were out of the fields. Farm life is like that in general- somebody in the family can figure it out.

I like the self-reliance and determination that I aquired growing up as a farm kid. Oh, I do call and hire repair people-but only when I have to, but in general I will give most anything a try.

I recently fixed a toilet that had been bothering me for 16 years----

I didn't say I was fast, just persistent.

Piers for Tears

1530+ bricks have now been carted out of the courtyards through the house and the demolition of the courtyard concrete pads has begun. What appeared to all to be 417 sq. ft. of innocent 4" deep pads, that could easily be removed with a sled hammer and muscle-turned out to be 4-5" pads with reinforced wire inside and 10-11" round concrete piers that extend into the ground 1-2 feet. The 4X4' pads have one pier on each corner and who knows how many are on the larger pads.

Upon this discovery I called my mild-mannered Geotechnical Engineer husband and said:

"I need a Geotechnical Engineer!"

In all our years of marriage I don't think I ever actually needed his professional services! Of course his professional reply to my dilemma was "What?!!?" So I put the contractor on the phone.

It's good to have an engineer around.

We were all perplexed-Why so many piers on garden patio pads? The new concrete demolition expert was not perplexed, so we hired him.

Next week he is bringing his cutting/ digging equipment through the house into the courtyards to cut up these pads and piers. Then it all gets carted through our guest room and living room across hardwood floors...oh my!

Day 1: The Adventure Begins

Today begins our family's adventures in the house we fondly refer to as the "Wow" House. "Wow" House is a Courtyard or Patio house built in 1970, featuring a 525 sq. ft center courtyard and a 250 sq ft. courtyard between the master and guest room. Imagine a 58' by 58' ft. square with the center cut-out, and that is pretty much the footprint of the house.


Lucky for us, the owners built it, loved it and did no major renovations during the 37 years they lived there. So, we are not faced with any cruel or unusual upgrades to undo. But it needs work...a lot of work.


So the adventure begins.

Step 1: Since all materials from the courtyards must be moved, carried or carted out through the house, we start there, before the floor refinishing. Plans include a pond in each courtyard- that is after 1500+ bricks are carted out and 6 concrete pads are broken up and removed.


So Stay tuned