Weekend kitchen redo

This is what our weekend was filled with .... C.O.L.D.!!!!!

So, we had this dark dingy paneling that I've desperately wanted to replace, and it seemed a good weekend since the snow was pouring and it was too cold to go out.

And Paul, being the sweet man that he is, played along and pulled the paneling off of the kitchen walls...

And this is what we found (*YUCK and GAG*)!!

So, Paul got out all this nifty stuff ... saws and such ... three to be exact. Guess it's best to have one for each cut? Anyway ...

And after measuring twice and cutting once, we began to have much brighter kitchen walls!

And WHAT a difference it makes!

This is the finished version, albeit not really finished. We are still getting the moulding up and there is paint that needs to happen. But isn't it FABULOUS!!!!!
Will keep you up to date as we hope to finish it up this upcoming week ... blinds and all (fingers crossed)! We just have to wait to paint until this gets out of Mother Nature's system .....

As my sweet friend Kathy says, Have Mercy!!!!

Our next snow storm is expected next weekend. Oh boy!

Happy Week everyone!

Paul & Cheri

Snowy Saturday

A lot of my art blogger friends make a list of ten things that they post on Sundays ... things they are grateful for. I guess my list would be something like this:

* grateful for my health

* grateful for my sweet husband and for his health
* grateful for loving families and friends, and their good health
* grateful for our jobs (!)
* grateful for our house
* grateful for heat, water and electricity
* grateful for snow plows and the men/women who drive them to keep us safe around here
* grateful for food, drinking water and wine ;-)
* grateful for art and humor
* grateful for faith

We have LOTS of snow and it's very cold ... what else is new?!?

Paul began the bead board project in the kitchen today. I'll post pictures tomorrow. It's been a good day. Life is good. We are grateful. Happy weekend!

Paul & Cheri

Jonathan Michael Adams (aka Jon)

My sweet little boy

can always make me laugh

Jon and his sweet wife, Melissa

Here, in all his glory, is my sweet son and second born child, Jon!

Jon just celebrated his birthday on January 19th.

HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY JON!

There is a sweet bond that happens between a mom and a son. It isn't any more special than the bond between a daughter and her mom, but it certainly is different somehow. I've never been able to put it into words. Maybe it's because little boy sons turn into men sons and go about their lives without needing their moms so much? Daughter's tend to need family history and recipes. My son is a chef. 'Tis I who call him for recipes! Nice twist, huh?

This little fella took a great deal of pride and delight in twisting me around his little pinkie. He was the most adventurous little boy ever, with stitches galore and broken bones and things to prove it. He has always had the twinkle in his eye and the grin on his face that let you know right away he was going for the mischief, no matter to what depth he had to reach to find it! (When he was in first grade he took my diamond earrings to school to give to his girl friend, but before Valentine's Day came he got mad at her and put them in his desk instead of returning them to my jewelry box. When I discovered them missing his teacher helped me retrieve them). He could always smile his way out of trouble (and make me laugh about it). MISCHIEVOUS and sweet hearted ~ what a combination! He can still melt my heart with his smile. He has his own meltable heart now as he looks at his own two sons with his sweet gorgeous brown eyes. He's been wrapped around a couple of pinkies himself now too! He's a wonderful son (when he remembers to call ;-)) and I am so very grateful for having him in my life. He's an accomplished chef, a true artist through and through, a loving husband, a wonderful daddy and a very loving son. A unique and wonderful man. I could not be more proud.

I love you, Jon.

Happy Birthday.

Mom

Still here ...

This picture has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post. I just love it. Bubbles!!!

Was so hoping we were going to have a warm up ... but snow heads back our way tomorrow. I know it's great for the slopes, and they've had a jolly good season this year that we're very grateful for, but goodness knows I've had enough cold to last a long time. And it usually snows here up until April-ish ... I hope I can last! We've about earned our "mountain people" patch, I'm sure! And we are weary to prove it! YEE GADS. I'll let you know when we find out the details about the presentation ceremony. ;-)

We have moved (physically did the move ourselves) the office where I work from the Country Club to The Sterling Company Real Estate and are merging with that company now. My boss, Hugh is going through some yucky treatments and needs the back up of the other agents for business. As you know, the economy is not on our side being in real estate. And being in the 2nd home market, it's a little bigger battle. So, work wise, my world has changed 180 degrees in one week. With the merge came some layoffs, and it's all getting sorted out. We shall see what comes my way. He's moved, he's settled, he's comfortable and he's supported. Amen. I'm tired, stressed, anxious and curious. Ummmmm ... the adventure continues.

On another note, Paul's new job is going great! He comes home every evening dipped in oil products and smelling of motor oil. It's a HUGE change from smelling of metal and burned flesh. All in a day's work! He's learning a lot of new things about servicing 18 wheelers and their trailers. I'm learning how to wash oily clothes! I love seeing his dimples shine when he tells me things about his day in the garage. We both call it the workshop, guess old habits die hard.

It's been an entire week since I've posted and I can't imagine when the time has gone ... we've just been flying through life up here trying to survive! Now I REALLY know why I absolutely LOVE and ADORE the summer here. The glorious lazy days of summer. Well, there aren't really any lazy days around here .... but at least Paul doesn't have to chop and haul wood in the summer for survival! (just for stock piling) And I don't spend near as many hours shivering! Will keep you posted on the happenings of the upcoming week. Maybe we'll have some news that is actually newsworthy.

Please keep the people in Haiti in your prayers and donate if you can. Can you honestly imagine the horror these folks are living through? I lived in Los Angeles, I've been in earthquakes. They are scary enough when they're under 5 ... there was an earthquake while I was delivering Jennifer!!! But I CANNOT even imagine the level of fear these precious people are being forced to live with. Please, please, please if you can't monetarily help out, send them blessings!

Our best to all,

Paul & Cheri

Mid week thaw out --- sort of

Elk Knob, January 9, 2010 compliments of Ray's Weather site

Good grief! Things are a bit frantic, so mid week is a bit behind. oh well ...

We are thawing out! Got all the way up in the 50's today ... a real HEAT WAVE! Thanks to the sun! The snow is slowly departing. The water lines are slowly thawing and the drains for the washing machines are unplugging their ice blobs so we can all function as we are used to once again. Hallelujah!!!!!

Paul is working HARD at his new job. He's enjoying learning new things. He comes home filled with motor oil and all kinds of other things I do not know how to identify. He's just really dirty when he gets home, and he's as cute as can be. He always has oil smudges on his face and/or head, sometimes some real goose eggs popping up from banging his head underneath a "rig". It's a new world for him .... and for me. We are extremely grateful for the job! We are trying to adjust to all the new stuff!

We had another frozen water experience .... water meter valve froze up at the street ... some other valve below that ... and some brass spring in the pressure flow valve that Paul thawed out and magically got to work. After 3 days, we had water again and life is so very glorious! We are so blessed .... we've passed a lot of mother nature's tests. Hoping we will earn that"mountain people" patch sooner than later! I'd HATE for us to be banned from the mountain because we can't "HANG" with this weather thing. ;-)

I personally am going through some very heavy heart moments and it's been pretty intense. There are a lot of factors. They are all fighting for first place. Any good thoughts you can send this way will be absolutely appreciated ... I'd love to feel ALL GOOD again. And I will. :-)

The earthquake in Haiti is a very devastating thing that never seems to really leave my thoughts. When I was in the delivery room having Jennifer in Los Angeles, there was an earth quake. April 8, 1974. I remember thinking, "I'm having this baby right now ... I will not be under this hospital trying to deliver" as my bed went from one side of the hospital room to the other dragging doctor and nurses along ... and that is pretty much what happened. I cannot even imagine what all those people in Haiti are going through, but I sure do send my deepest sympathy and my most prominent prayers. I will NEVER forget how helpless the feeling was to have the earth heaving beneath my body and not being able to control any little thing. Have mercy! God bless them all.

The holidays are history, but due to 'out of propane' (no heat) and 'out of water', we're a bit behind putting all things Christmas back in the attic and etc. I hope to accomplish all that putting away this weekend so I can begin art projects. Stay tuned ... hopefully there will be BIG things to come ... I'm looking so forward to it.

* Paul's BFF, Charles, will be celebrating his birthday this Sunday ... SO, Happy Birthday, Charles!

* My son, Jon, will be celebrating his birthday on Tuesday the 19th. Happy Birthday my sweet son. :-*

* Paul's brother, Chris and my niece Hollie both celebrate their birthdays tomorrow,the 15th. Happy birthday, Chris and Hollie! Hope the birthday fairies are good to you both !!!!!!

Thanks for coming out, Father Sun! The warmth is delirious!

All the Best to All,

Cheers!

Paul & Cheri

it's really cold

Just sayin' ......

Mountain Midweek

New River in Todd, NC ("right up the road") photo by Lynne Townsend

this is what a frozen river looks like, BIG CHUNKS of ice.

This is a picture of Grandfather Mtn taken from the highway by Brenda Hoss on January 2nd. Just plain frozen.
Even though it says the date is Wed., January 6th, the following is an account of today, Thursday, January 7th, 2010.

This morning:

Alarm did not go off ... why? oh, because it was set for 7AM instead of 6AM. Hmmmmm. Well, I woke up at 6:38 and hustled in to the kitchen to fill the kettle for some much needed coffee and tea. NO WATER is coming out of the tap .... come on brain, what does that mean? Strange moment, oh NO! Frozen water ... D A N G. Oh, I see, it's 2 degrees outside ... (thank you to the inventor of indoor plumbing and running water) PAUL!!! Get up ... please start up the wood furnace the water lines are frozen. Poor sweet Paul ... down to the dungeon to fire up the wood furnace WAY BEFORE he should have ever had to be awake WITHOUT A CUP OF TEA! Then up to the kitchen to fire up the wood stove. (thank you to all the trees we have been able to make firewood from, and to our sweet friends Charles & Sabrina for just bringing a load of wood by every now and then for kindness!) All that fire building takes a long time, and Paul's throwing his clothes on ... gathers a big pan full of snow and jokingly hands it to me with a kiss and says, "here you go, Pioneer Woman, put this on the wood stove and you'll soon have some water" ... and he's off with dimples blazing and a giggle in his heart. (thank you for this wonderful man)

Meanwhile, I go to put the pot filled with snow on the kitchen wood stove and climb into the basement to check the wood furnace when I hear the GLORIOUS sound of water running upstairs! Whoo hoo! (thanks for hearing! What a miraculous thing the sense are!) Up the stairs I go to fill the kettle with real water (not melted snow ~ although that would have done in a pinch) and then bounced in to the shower and on with my morning routine. All the while knowing I would take a thermos of hot English tea and some English muffin goodness to my sweet husband at work on my way out since he had no time for breakfast during fire building mania. (thank you for providing the opportunity for Paul to have a real job once again) As I go outside to start my wonderful warm 4WD car, I notice Paul's station wagon "ditched" in the snow on the side yard. Hmmmmm. (thank you for keeping him right side up and safe) Where is Paul? Must've walked on to work. (thank you to the Universe for having the infinite wisdom to find him a job within a mile of the house) As I am on my way out of the house to take Paul some "groceries" as they say around here, I see he is standing at the front door with snow all over his side. "Did you fall?" I ask him with great concern. No, I had to lie down in the snow to tie the rope to my car so you can pull me out before you leave". Well, okeedoekee! So, we get him out of the snow and on the road again. And now I am at work. (thank you for a safe journey once again) And that's the way it was this morning in the mid week adventure of Paul and Cheri in the High Country of North Carolina! We are expecting more snow this afternoon. Hot dog!!!!!

Happy Trails (and then some),

Paul & Cheri

check out our forecast: http://averyweather.com/Forecast/Newland

We are having a REAL winter

Here's the thing ...

This year is a very real winter year. I knew Mother Nature was being kind and easing us in to the mountain life over the past three winters. This year is going to be our initiation. I can just tell. We're either going to be members of the "mountain people" club, or we aren't. Brrrr.

This was the temperature about 6:00 pm this evening. It never went above 10 degrees today, but it did start out at 2. Yep - 2 degrees ~ so we did warm up some. In case you're not sure, I'm here to tell you, that is COLD - FRIGID in fact.

It's been blowing snow since 7 AM this morning. The weather guy says we'll get between 3 inches and 3 feet by week's end. Well, that's nailing it down, huh? At least we're not in Minnesota where I don't think they will ever finish digging out this winter!

Our propane went (ran) out (our major form of heat) and the temperature inside the rooms that didn't have a space heater in them were all below 35 degrees. The bedroom, which had a little heater, was 42 degrees. The bathroom which had TWO space heaters in it was at 59 degrees. And it felt quite warm in comparison! But the toilet seat is REALLY cold. My sister says I need to sit on my hands, but they're actually colder than the seat. Hmmmmmm.

Paul moved a couple of single mattresses from the boy's room into the kitchen and slept in front of the wood stove. Well, we slept intermittently in front of the stove. When we weren't sleeping, we were filling the stove with wood. Thank goodness for the little stove! Beth gave it to us a couple of years ago. That thing has saved us more than one time, to be sure. So once again, Beth, Thank YOU ever so much for the very generous gift! Paul had the wood furnace downstairs loaded up to keep the underbelly of the house warm and keep the pipes from freezing. It was an adventurous night, to be sure. When the propane fellas came this morning, they discovered they had neglected to turn the second tank "back on" after the last time they tested it. Great!! Thanks, guys! $580 later, we have one full tank turned on and pumping propane in to the gas logs and boy does it feel GREAT!!! As I said, it's our initiation ... I have on thermals (long johns), 2 turtle necks, a lined fleece, jeans, 3 pair of socks and lined boots!!! I am still cold, but NOT frozen. Amen.

Our neighborhood cats make a lot of prints in the snow. Paul went out yesterday and tried to follow this guy's tracks. There were too many circles ... but there are zillions of these tiny little foot prints in the snow. It's kind of fun to watch. The cats sink up to their bellies and beyond when they're out taking walks. I don't understand how their little feet don't get frost bite. Anyone know how that works?

I absolutely LOVE the feeling of peace in my heart when I look out the kitchen window as the sun sets (when we can see it, that is) and there are the most amazing colors in the sky. The sun seems to throw off some amazing light shows when it's going to bed. Last night was a glorious color show but the camera never gets the accurate "real time" hues. I tried to share. Last night there was an ENORMOUS yellow moon just hanging low in the sky. Photos of that never work out either. But it was LOVELY and impressive (and romantic)!

Paul & I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday to stay warm and read. That too was nice. I had a lot of time to day dream, not being able to take down the Christmas stuff because it was too cold. I really love the way trees look when the sun is setting behind them and there are no leaves on the limbs, but lots of snow falling. This year the snow falls are beautiful and filled with wonder and questions. The feeling is magical ... and peaceful ... and powerful. The silence is like nothing else I could ever describe. NOTHING goes better with day dreaming while the snow is falling than a latte and a sweet, loving, warm husband. Hope we turn out to be survivors of this initiation! Maybe we'll get out Mountain person patch after all! I'll be keeping you posted (pardon the pun!).

Life is Good

Happy Trails,

Paul & Cheri

Last Week ... whew!!!

Christmas with the 3 amigos!!!

Whoo hoo! Money!!

Monogrammed wallets!!

Wallets with money in them seem to bring smiles for this guy!

Remote control hummer for this one! (and a red ribbon :-) )

Legos ~ Pirate fort! Serious business apparently

Anakin Y wing lego thing ... total bliss!

you would not believe how many PIECES this thing has!

My boys! l-r: Austin, Christian, Paul, Cade

doing what they do (eat)!

learning all about snow

how to make (& take) snowballs!

How to make yellow snow! ;-)

Christmas from Santa Charles and Sabrina

lots of mystery (how'd that get there?)

Christmas dinner with the Ballards ... homemade pizzas ... all kinds ....

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ballard
beautiful smiling happy people!

Fun time with Chad! Jennie & Chad (and Meghan too) brought the boys presents too. I'm sure they really like Christmas, as all children should! WE have very generous friends who love children! Thanks so much to all of our very giving friends. Y'all are the BEST!

Taco night

Being silly on Nana's Birthday (because we can!)

V O G U E

My friends who come to our annual taco night, l to r:
Paul, Janine, Jennie, Chad, Beth, Meghan

My birthday party ... our annual taco night!

Janine made the best layered pound cake with butter cream icing you will EVER put in your mouth. Oh the talent we have here!

More fun with Chad. Poor guy spent hours putting stuff together, but I just don't think he minded at all. He was grinning the whole time!

Holding up the moon! Hard work!

Snow! Sledding, and boarding too. F.U.N. !!

Paul & Cade made the sled in the middle (wood) on the first day.

On Roan Mountain ... The first day here

how to toast the New Year!!

Happy New Year ~ singing Auld Lang Syne if you know the words!

And toasting with Nana (who looks VERY happy to me!)

Out to lunch (yep, eating again) at Crista's County Corner on Jonas Ridge

They each have such distinctive appetites and personalities. It is an absolute study in human development and behavior ~ one I am both honored and intrigued to be involved in!

Just to give you an idea of our snow levels ... impressive, huh?

The boys and the monster truck. a big hit for Cade.

Snow boarder Austin

Face planting Christian!
(snowboarding before the fall, of course!)

Sledding Cade!

The beauty - peace, tranquility, silence, euphoria.

Blessings to all in this New Year, 2010

Paul & Cheri