There are certainly enough things going on here to keep us busy! Paul went to work yesterday in 9 degree weather ... but before he left for work ... right around 6 AM it was 3 degrees! 3 degrees! That just sounds like it can't be ... but oh, it was! Yesterday the temperature never got above freezing! Today is much more reasonable, I think it's about 35 right now. Tomorrow is supposed to go back to arctic blast with an ice storm possible on Thursday. To keep myself from freezing to death, I've chosen to do projects which require physical activity ... and mostly seem to involve wallpaper, either removing or installing. Either way, it keeps your body temperature up!

Saturday we had Andy and Jenn over for dinner and gaming. Paul was absolutely like a little boy, having someone over who actually enjoys x-box! And it was fun to watch them all doing their thing ... and hearing so much laughter in the house! Andy works with Paul at Blue Mountain Metal Works and is a blacksmith, now and forever more. He's going to be making the cabinet hardware for our kitchen ... thank goodness! His finacee, Jennifer is studying contracting and math at ASU and hopes to get into construction estimating when it's all said and done! Youth! So nice to be around!

Sunday was unfortunately a working day for us around here. I began wallpapering the bedroom on Friday with hopes of finishing it on Saturday ... but procrastination won over my desire! I did, of course, finish it on Sunday. Not an easy task, to put it gently! The paper is a very subtle design (Fleur De Li's) in beige and tanish ... so very difficult to see to match seams. I thought about just giving up more than once, which is certainly not my normal attitude about wallpapering. Anyway ... it's up now (what didn't peel up from the frigid temp of the wall) and looks pretty good! We still need to paint below the chair rail, and then install the chair rail. Then, we'll have to paint the walls that aren't going to get papered ... and so it goes ... I tried to post a picture, but the pattern is so sublte that you can't see it on the photo! Maybe after we get it painted and etc., I'll be abel to figure out the lighting better. Anyway, Andy mentioned on Saturday that he thought the mantle had cherry or oak wood under the white paint ("they" just covered EVERYTHING that is made of wood around here!) ... so Sunday Paul & I took turns peeling the paint ... which incidentally had been light green BEFORE white ... and the mantle is, indeed, red oak. It is GORGEOUS ... can't wait to unveil the entire thing! Here (above) is what it looked like earlier on Sunday ... we've done more since then. Paul went on to soccer and got to be in goal the whole time, so he was a smiling man when he got home ... and a bit of a sore one as well! I love that he goes to play ... good for him and the community!

Yesterday was another "there is so much to be done" day ... and since school was cancelled because of snow, ice and otherwise frigid temps, I had some time on my hands. SO, I took to the "guest" bedroom and began scrapping horrendous cardboard backed wallpaper off of the tongue and groove walls in the guest room. It is going to be a full week's job ... but will be beautiful when it's complete! I meant it when I said my life was revolving around wallpaper here of late! So, here is what that looks like in the beginning of the process. When I began scrapping the glue off of the wall (yuk!) what was unveiled is absolutely gorgeous wood, and will be the highlight (no doubt) of the guest suite. I certainly hope the room is ready by the time my son arrives on the 13th! Otherwise, his bed will be in the living room or the parlor! HA! There is a bathroom upstairs also and it needs a whole lot of TLC ... my friend Beth says it looks like a "camp" bathroom from when she went to summer camp as a kid! She is right! Guess I'll get to working on that too! :-)

Today I've been making props for dance class (have to work some too!) and silently wondering how I'm going to go out in this weather without freezing to death --- as they're expecting snow showers after sunset ~ when I go to work at 6pm, I'll probably get to see them ... then while the temp is dropping to 13 degrees, I'll get to slide down the hill in them! You see how it works around here! Taking a bit of time for us (me, really) to get used to it. But as you can see, the kitties are fine, happy, fat and sassy ~ not to mention warm in their fur coats!! As I'm typing, the wind is gusting up around 40 mph and howling through the house! So much fun ... and just right for napping! And since I can, I believe I will before I must go teach.

We have birthdays again this week! Joe Williams, our friend in the Tarpon Springs area; Joni Stewart, my dance director and great friend in Cumming, GA (north of Atlanta); and my cousin Georga in NYC. Happy birthday to ALL y'all ~ and our wishes for many more to come. Y'all have a great week and kids at The Dancer's Pointe, keep up the good work! Everyone is proud of all of you! I miss each of you gobs and bunches and will be there in spirit for your regional competition. If you do your best, you'll be G R E A T !!!!

Happy Trails to all! Paul & Cheri

A Real House in Progress!

Look! We have a real house! The dining room is no longer the bedroom/living room ... it is a dining room - albeit not quite put together - it's getting there! And the flooring in that room is BEAUTIFUL!!! The bedroom is solid kilz right now --- but the floor is BEAUTIFUL too - no ring around the rug anymore ... Hallelujah! My husband, my hero ... I don't know how he endured the vast project of sanding these floors. We figured out he had sanded 1480 sq. ft. with the drum sander --- but since he had to do each sq. ft. with 3 or 4 different grits of paper ... well, you do the math! It's way past what any sane man would tolerate. We are so lucky to have insanity on our side! :-) So now the task of doing the edges of the floors is at hand - and we will have to put the polyurethane on them too. But the exciting part is that our house is looking like a house! And the cat's paws don't have that old gunk on them any more ... and they are very happy about that! And ... I'll be able to unpack now! I'm definitely feeling very blessed, yet again! The blessings are abundant around here ... and they run from Jennifer's health being great, to the ice melting so I can drive! We've also heard from several "old" friends lately, which has been such a treat! I love the holidays and the New Year for that reason - reconnecting with life long friends and some busy extended family. As Paul says often, "we're very lucky"! Keep those cards and letters coming! They really make our days around here.

My new teaching schedule begins today, which I'm also feeling very blessed over. I begin at 3:30 and go through until 8:30 ... if there are students to fill the class space. With it being a brand new school, one never knows! But we're keeping our fingers crossed, all the same! Y'all can check it out - carolinacheeranddance.com.

I've been remiss in my birthday wishing, please forgive me ... on the 15th, it was Paul's brother, Christopher's birthday; Paul's nephew, Nick's birthday; and my niece, Hollie's birthday. On the 19th, it was my son, Jon's birthday (pictured above on the beach a couple years ago --- isn't he a cutie?); and my dear friend, Melody's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ALL y'all!!!!! I understand David had a birthday too --- but I wasn't invited to the party, so didn't know anything about it ... :-O Happy Birthday, old man!!!! Congratulations to TDP dancers, who I understand did a GREAT job at Lakeland ... and I saw the pics of Mannequin ... very interesting!! Y'all certainly looked the part!

Well, please keep in touch ... we miss everyone and it's lonely up here in these hills! Blessings to all! Paul & Cheri

What Lies Beneath!

We would never have guessed that these floors were so gorgeous under all the paint and gunk! But we sure were hoping! If we could do just one thing from the move in a different way, I think we would have had the floors done before we ever tried to move into the house! The preparation to sand them is laborious, at best. But the toll it is taking on Paul's back is pretty intense ~ although he won't admit it! He began with the floor in the library on Saturday ... moved to the living room on Sunday (that's the first set of pics) ... that room took 2 days! Then Tuesday night he began in the master bedroom, where he has erased the painted rug master piece! By the way, our neighbor (Bruce) came over to see our progress and it turns out he has that rug in his house!!!! LOL!!! It's a green braided oval rug ~ and he was sweet enough to offer it back to us! We are still chuckling! Last night Paul and his sander moved into the hallway! I don't think we're going to get the entire downstairs finished by Saturday morning at 8 AM when the sander has to go back to the rental shop ... but maybe it'll give some time for the dust to settle and the operator to heal before we rent it again for round two! We are very pleased with the progress so far! The front two rooms have turned out to be oak floors, and the rest of what we've uncovered are white pine! Who knew the floors would be so light in color!?! For the most part, I think we'll end up just putting a coating of polyurethane on them and going with the natural colors. What a difference! (Thank goodness!)

I've been in the kitchen trying to get rid of the fruit wall paper on the back splash. (yikes!) I've finished painting the cabinets white - they look great! Still hunting for the "perfect" cabinet hardware ... I've been chiseling the drywall off of the chimney that comes up beside the stove and sink and am just about ready to clean up the brick. Another dust nightmare! We still have a little ways to go in there before I post the pics ... but things are definitely looking better! I must say, we're keeping the cats guessing as to where they'll find their favorite piece of furniture (or litter box) next! Stump the cats ... :-O There are damp sheets hanging up over all the door ways, and plastic is covering most things (especially t.v.s and computer equipment) so it is VERY interesting here at the Glover household! Also, when Paul is using the sander, we have to turn off all the heaters and computers because the electric capacity is not that capable! We are definitely having a laugh! Anyone out there an electrician?????? We apparently need to go from 100 AMPS to 200 AMPS ......... SOON!

Paul is working hard at the workshop and seemingly enjoying it ... they've got a ton of work in the pipeline, so he's staying out of trouble! I'm working with the realtor, trying to get a HUGE mailing out for her. Also, I begin my teaching schedule on Monday ... looks like 3 days a week (mon, tues, & wed) and quite a variety of classes. As it is a new studio, it'll be an interesting and exciting adventure. I'm looking forward to it, time to get moving again! Paul & I are both busy getting bios written as our employers are interested in getting our arrival known around the community. I kind of like being incognito! ;-)

As I look out the window here, I see great big fluffy snow flakes. I'm sure there is a proper name for them, but I don't know what it is! There is a travel advisory out today ... so I'm thinking I'll stay home and clean up the sawdust and catch up on a few things (like paying bills) and try to find things we've lost in the shuffle! Hope all of you have a wonderful and warm day!

Paul & Cheri

Treasures!

What a lovely weekend we had around here! Saturday was a beautiful day ... mild weather, blue sky ... the things we love about the mountains! Our next door neighbor, Bruce, has a smoke house in his backyard and he was smokin' meat on Saturday. They invited us over for dinner and it was delicious! He'd smoked racks of baby back ribs, texas ribs, chicken thighs and breasts and some salmon. Wow! The smoke house setup is so very nice ... and it's in a building that really reminded me of grandaddy's meat house in Virginia. It was a great time had by all. After dinner we went to the town auction! Bruce didn't really want to go, but his girl friend (Beth) did, so off we went ... I'm not sure any of us had ever been before ... but we got the hang of it very quickly! The painting is one of our treasures, "Rainbow Cats" by an artist in Maine by the name of Sally Caldwell Fisher. She has some great water scapes, but of course we just love these colors, and according to the website we stole this painting. Our treasure!!!! Next thing we acquired was an old abbey bench ... from around the beginning of the 1900's they figure. It fits perfectly in our hallway! We also got a wicker chair for the screen porch and a much needed snow shovel ... and a fabulous bed frame for the guest suite!! We also had a WONDERFUL evening of FUN and merriment. I highly recommend the "hillbilly auction" as the auctioneer so proudly named his auction!!!

Yesterday, although it was supposed to be a day of rest, we actually worked. I began the kitchen cabinet painting project on Saturday morning, (taking off the hardware, doors, etc.) and finished the priming (2 coats, of course!) yesterday. We also are preparing the master bedroom for redo, so there were hours of moving stuff out of the room and sorting out the storage space, etc. Paul is surely sore today between lugging all that stuff and his weekly Sunday soccer game. He was in goal yesterday so I'm sure he's a sore puppy today! But he won't admit it :-).

I'm getting very excited because things are actually getting accomplished! And we can really see things changing before our very eyes! Paul spent most of Saturday reworking the furnace filter pump and tubing, and getting that old girl back up to snuff. Now he REALLY is my hero!! It's so nice to have heat around here. It is supposed to snow tomorrow, so we're all getting prepared for that! Thank goodness we got that shovel (haha!). The plumber is supposed to be here in the morning to fix the pipes going to the upstairs bathroom. However, he was supposed to be here the week before Thanksgiving, so we'll see!

Please keep good thoughts for my sister-in-law, Debbie, who is really struggling with kidney stones. Also a big fat HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Paul's niece, Sara, who celebrates her birthday this Tuesday (tomorrow).

Hope everyone is warm, happy and healthy. Paul & Cheri

Club Member, at long last!

Slowly but surely we have become members of North Carolina. I have now experienced the pleasure of becoming a member of the North Carolina driver's club. My visits to the local DMV were not anything like what poor Paul had to go through, but they were every bit as entertaining. I only had to come back to the house once for more papers to verify my residency. And because I failed the written test the first time, I got to go back the next day! The testing here is more about drunk driving and the points off of the license and etc. than I even knew existed. I am now a pro about such things, along with how to approach turning a corner ... and am especially proud to have my license now! And thankfully it is good for 8 years! Hooray! Now I am officially a North Carolinian - never been one of those before!

We are finally getting some kind of "home" look to this house ... another slow but sure subject! Now that the Christmas tree is out of the "parlor", we turned the room around to accept visitors. We still have accessories to fill in, but we are going to redo the floors next weekend, so unpacking nic nacs and hanging pictures would be suicidal as far as clean up goes at this point! We also have the anaglypta to hang on the ceiling ... and then eventually all the shelving will go in there to become the library. A few things to do before those phases all get complete! But we're very thrilled to have a space to entertain and to read! The kitties are also very happy to have a place to play hide and seek behind the couch and under the tables. They are so much fun to watch when they're in the play mode of their day.

The kitchen is coming right along ... I finished the upper walls the weekend before Christmas. Today I'm starting on painting the cabinets. Then hopefully we can fix the granite and the sink will be sunk ... and we finally got the wood burning stove home. We have to put something under and behind it to keep it from catching our wooden house on fire! Then Paul can hook up all the duct work and we're in wood burning business! As you're looking at the stove, the left side is the wood hold, the right side is where you put the water to keep it hot for tea (and keep moisture in the air) and the middle is, of course, the oven and storage. It's in fabulous shape, no rusting out or any of that! We're very excited to have it ... and I personally will be ecstatic to get it in working order! There is an auction this Saturday evening at the local antique row, and I can't wait to see if we can find more treasures to add to our collection! The auction begins with music and refreshments at 6pm, and then down to business at 7pm ... and we take our own chairs! Should be a good time had by all! ;-) We're not in Kansas any more! :-O

I've been working a little bit for a realtor in Banner Elk and trying to help her whilst learning something of a new endeavor. It's interesting so far ... and very eye opening in many different areas. The ski season here has been disappointing to skiers and proprietors alike. Even though it's been cold in spurts, old man winter just doesn't seem to want to hang around. Personally, I think he's busy in Colorado ... but the folks here are wishing he'd share the snow, I'm sure. They blow snow here on the mountains, but it's not the same and the skiing is no good. So, "we're" keeping our fingers crossed that winter will eventually set in and get things back on track. I'm still saying grace (on a personal) level for mother nature breaking us in slowly and taking it easy on our first winter here! :-) I begin teaching dance on January 22nd. Still don't know too many details, but I'll certainly be very glad to get back to it! Some things are just in your soul.

We've set a goal to finish our master bedroom (or at least get it live-able) by Jan. 31 so we can begin the upstairs accommodations for our arriving guests. So ... we're busy and hopeful we can meet some of our dates! Mostly, we stay entertained and giggle about things that aren't really on track ~ or even do-able. I must say, this is an adventure!!!!! A mighty fine one too!

Our New Year seems to have arrived with good health, plenty of projects, and great outlooks. As I was in the throws of a terrible illness last year about this time, I'm extremely grateful for the difference in beginning to the New Year! We certainly hope all of you have experienced the same good beginning to your 2007. Onward ho! Paul & Cheri

Happy New Year!

We would love to wish everyone a fabulous 2007. Our hopes for you ALL are for prosperity, great health, loving relationships, peaceful existence, good karma, plentiful food and abundance in every aspect of your lives. Oh yeah, and blessings, lots and lots of blessings!
We have spent the past couple of days preparing for our 2007, as I'm sure many of you have. We've set "house" goals, personal goals, business goals, and on and on. Hopefully, we can manufacture the energy to make all those goals come to the reality side!! We shall see!
Today we managed to "de-Christmas" the house. The decor is now back to everyday ... although around here, that is still most interesting! We've decided to sand the floors the weekend of the 12th ... so keep good thoughts. I understand the dust will be ankle deep ... I guess we'll just pretend we're at the beach! Hopefully those big sand blowers will come by to clear out the mess ...
Paul installed a beautiful new cast iron mail box in front of the house today. He's been working on setting a concrete base for a few days ... the weather here is not really ideal for setting concrete, but after 3 days, we have an installed project! Mike (Brinkley Hardware man) is upset with Paul and says "great, now every woman in the neighborhood is going to have to have one". He might be right ... his wife saw ours and is very excited about having one for herself! Paul also became a one man demolition crew today and tore down some walls upstairs. Now we have a very nice "flow" upstairs that will allow things to be as they should be! There was apparently a "wanna be" carpenter in this house before we bought it. We are not on the same page as he was when it comes to the renovation details! He has covered up most of the original "tongue and groove" wood upstairs. The "bead board", as it's called here, is absolutely gorgeous, but someone was trying for the log cabin look and wanted to hang boards in all kind of extreme geometric lines. Not our cup of tea - we're going back to the authentic wood. And Paul is doing a GREAT job of getting us there ... besides, I think it's fun for him to tear something up every once in a while! ;-)
Paul goes back to work tomorrow and I think I'll be going as well. I've made a contact with a friend of mine who is a real estate agent and she desperately needs some admin. help. I do hope she is ready to have me join in soon ~ it'll be great to use my brain again for something other than painting and cooking! My driver's license expired Saturday, and my tag expired too ... so Wed. I'll be headed to the tag office. All I can say is, Lord, help me! Hopefully the officer in charge won't have to help me with sound effects through my test! (Whew! Whew!) As David has said, "y'all sure have a good time just doing ordinary things there" ... he's right! Never a dull moment. I'm still planning on teaching dance, but it's a couple of weeks away still.
The temperature dropped about 12 degrees inside one hour this afternoon ... and now the wind has picked up and things seem a bit chilly. But we're supposed to be back up into the mid range 50's tomorrow ... this is the craziest weather I've ever been exposed to! There were plenty of skiers in Banner Elk this past week ... and the weather was "snow making" friendly, so I'm hoping the economy was boosted. The restaurants sure were jammin' ~ I know that for a fact! So, if you're thinking of coming to visit, let us know. We'll see if we can get y'all a path that doesn't include the skiers SUVs on the 2 lane streets! SLOW!!!!
Happy New Year and many Blessings to all, Paul & Cheri