Week two!

We (the cats and I) have been here two weeks today and Paul is celebrating four weeks! It sure doesn't seem like it. As they say, time just flies when you're having fun! As the time goes on, everyone is getting more comfortable with the new digs and we're just loving life! The cats love their outside screened in porch ... I'm sure they feel like kings overlooking their kingdom! Today is about 58 degrees right now, (about 9AM) the bluest sky I've seen in ages and a nice brisk breeze blowing (last night the breeze was 95 miles an hour on Grandfather Mountain and 27 degrees!). Hopefully my charming prince will wake up sometime soon and we can go for a ride for some well deserved R & R. I found a great antique sink we need to pick up later today ... as well as an antique stove (4 burners, an oven and a water tank for consistent hot water for tea! ~ all wood powered). Probably not how we'll cook! HAHA! Paul finally took the clawfoot bathtub out of the back of his truck. When it was snowing earlier in the week, he thought it might keep his truck from sliding around on the roads ... but when the weather cleared, it became embarrassing (for me) and so ... he now has a truck bed empty enough for us to load up a bunch of "stuff" the previous owners left on the front porch and in the front room. I'd hate for the trick or treaters to come up to the porch and be swallowed up by the debris ... nice trick but where's the treat in that?!?! When I was in the local hardware store the men in there asked me if I'd seen our house ghost yet. Well, no, I haven't seen him ... but he keeps opening the door to my "Florida Room" so I kind of figured he was here ... and his name is Earl (of all things!) so ... as long as Earl stays friendly, he can stay! :-) I've managed to get all that drywalled popcorn down off of the kitchen walls and have primed and painted the base coat. So now it's to the fun part where I can wash the walls or faux them, or plaster them ... etc., etc. You get the picture! It's better! And it's cleaner! Yesterday I took all the carpet strips up around the walls of the office, and all the staples out of the floor! The previous tenants took their green shag carpet, but they left all of the remnants behind (like the strips and staples for the foam under the carpet). I bet we're going to pull out 10 pounds of staples by the time it's all said and done. We have lathe and plaster walls in this house and try as I might, I've yet to find anyone who does that work! Drat! If you know anyone who does old fashioned plaster work, please let me know! I did find an electrician last week ... it's financially equal to a college education! Better than Paul and I trying to do it though ... so, onward ho!!!! Also, Paul is working 12 hours a day/6 days a week ... so he's got NO TIME to do it. Maybe I can figure it out. I like working with textures ... hmmm. I have, of course, been working on mosaics right along with the other projects ... always a nice treat to get to that part. And, I've pulled the ballet barre into the living room so I can take a class daily and keep my sanity. It's such a blessing to have sanity ... We found a lovely restaurant on Friday night ... on top of a mountain. It's an old farmhouse that they've converted into a very nice restaurant called the GameKeeper Restaurant. Paul was very happy with the menu which offered all kinds of game (ostrich, rabbit, buffalo, venecine, snake etc.)! I had fish, of course! It was so nice to get out of the house, but trying to find appropriate wardrobe in amongst the mountains of boxes was slightly stressful! Once we settled into our evening out, it was delightful! The kids from The Dancer's Pointe had a performance last night at Lake Eola in Orlando. I thought about them all day yesterday, as well as the teachers. Do so hope everything went perfectly! (thanks for the pictures David! I was wondering if Aric received his costume!) Today is my sister's birthday. Happy birthday, Cyndie!!! We're also very happy to report that Paul's dad, Mel, is recovering with great success from his recent illness and returning to his normal self. And, my good friend (and tap teacher) Dana graduated yesterday with her Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration ... congratulations, Dana! We're so very grateful for all of our blessings!!! Ok, so it's evening now and our ride through the Cherokee National Forest yielded these pictures of the beautiful view and the deer feeding. We had a wonderful ride and it was lovely to get out and see where we live! The picture of the mountains and the deer were taken on Roan Mountain, which is about 15 minutes from the house. BEAUTIFUL!!!! One word of warning, on Sunday around here there are not too many businesses that are open ... so don't go out expecting to find any lunch! We drove about 40 miles before we found an open restaurant! But well worth the time we spent out enjoying our new neighborhood! Y'all take care! Paul & Cheri