Sink Sunk!!!

Paul was able to sink our kitchen sink one evening last week!!! Isn't it spectacular??? I've posted some pics along our Phase I kitchen face lift. We are still waiting for the tin for the back splash and the sink front to come in and the cabinet hardware to be made... and then we'll poly the floor and Phase I will be mostly completed!! It's come a L O N G way from the starting line! We're thrilled (I am, more so than Paul, for obvious reasons!) with the outcome!! And we will, of course, continue to update with pics as things progress.

It's a 2 golf ball day here on the weather scene, which means it's going to be mild with no precipitation and in the 50's. The sky is that brilliant blue and the wind is still ~ for the most part. The cats are out on the screen porch watching the birds and air flow. We're enjoying our heat wave immensely!!! There is a rumor of snow flurries later in the week or weekend, but tomorrow is a 3 golf ball day ... so we're going to live in the moment around here!!!! I'm hoping March isn't going to roll in like a lion, but with the 70 to 100 mph winds we've been having around here, it looks like the Lion is going to roar. Actually, I guess if spring wants to roar in like a lion, as long as it actually gets here, who cares!?! I keep thinking winter isn't over yet because it hasn't been as intense as I've been promised it would be by the locals. But, if it is over, so be it! I'm glad to move forward ... but in doing so, I must thank everyone who has sent us warm thoughts and especially thanks to my brother who actually sent us a propane heater!!! Thanks, Wayne! You're the best! The heater takes care of the whole front of the house and it really makes a difference for us when we're watching t.v. and trying to enjoying a "normal" evening!

We spent another fun weekend this past weekend going from thrift store to book store and back again! We had a lovely time and enjoyed ourselves way more than we probably had a right to! But since we felt compelled to get out and about, we just enjoyed it! I guess sometimes you just have to go with the flow and relax a little ... even if you have a VERY long list of things to be done! We saw some interesting scenery ... it looks like a completely different planet around here without the ice and snow on the ground. I'm very anxious to experience the beauty of everything blooming and coming alive. It's been ages since we've seen a proper spring ... we're delirious with that prospect!

We received a letter yesterday from Kaley and Kristy Suero, who are 2 of our students from Orlando. Thank you, girls, for making our day!!! It was so delightful to hear from y'all. I smiled the rest of the day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Teaching here is fun, but it is different. I miss taking class with my lady friends more than I can even put into words. I try to avoid thinking about it because it creates a vast sadness in my heart that I cannot even grasp. As my friend Valerie reminded me last Friday when she was telling me about the weather in Orlando, "you chose to leave" ... and although she is exact in that statement, it doesn't mean I don't miss my friends and students with whole bits of my heart! And so, I try to remain in the moment and not think about Thursday at noon when I would be in class, tapping my little heart out and smiling from my soul because it is my true passion.

On the other hand, I'm truly enjoying learning the real estate stuff, and since this is their "slow" season around here, it's giving me an opportunity to grasp it before it's too busy for me to learn. It's certainly a wonderful thing, learning something new! I may end up back in school after all ... we'll see. Paul seems to be plenty busy at work. This weekend is the big trade show for their industry and the owner of the company will be heading to FL to attend N.O.M.A. That leaves Paul here to mind the shop, which I think he'd rather do than go to the show ... so, all's well!

As March is rolling in (that means we've been here 5 months - so hard to believe!) we are just planning to continue on with the house ... and as soon as the weather indicates that green light, we'll hit the hiking trails with great gobs of gusto!!! I can't wait to get out there and wander around! I've noticed Paul reading lots of canoeing stuff lately, so that'll be on the agenda too, I'm sure! Now, the fun part of the adventure will begin ... and just in time to avoid cabin fever.

Welp, until next time, y'all stay healthy, happy and wise!!!! Paul & Cheri

Happy President's Day!!

This past weekend brought us a snowbound couple of days to catch up on our reading and resting! AAHHHH!!! I know most of you will never believe this, but I actually stayed in jogging pants and sweatshirts all day yesterday ... under the electric blanket (which is on the bed!) and read an entire book! At the day's end, Paul congratulated me for not "freaking out" and spending an entire day of doing NOTHING in the house! Guess I was tired! Watching the snow fall in BIG slow and lazy flakes, and then quick little frantic flakes, and then back to the BIG flakes again is a bit mesmerizing! Every time we looked out the window it was STILL SNOWING! You just don't get views like that in Orlando! It was a glorious weekend and the rest and relaxation was so very welcomed by us both! I'm sure Paul thinks I must've been sick ... after all, he brought home the granite to re-do the kitchen sink and counters that I've been waiting for since October, and I told him to wait until this week. I'm sure he thinks I was replaced by an alien just for that alone! But I'm back to myself and hoping that the sink gets sunk tonight! I'm so excited about the prospect of being able to actually reach the sink without lifting my shoulders up to accommodate the counter top!!! It's really the small things in life, isn't it!?!?! And we're beginning to talk about hanging things on the walls now too ... and I've unpacked a few boxes of crystal and china ... so, little by little, we're making this our home.

Today in the High Country the weather is not anything like it was yesterday! Although Paul's departure this morning took about 20 minutes to exit the driveway. The ground was just frozen! So he ended up loading tree trunks (wood from our trees, remember that?) into the truck bed and letting out some of the air from his back tires and finally got out of the driveway. Smooth sailing after that!!!! Too bad he had to leave so early, when I left for town I had no problem at all. But school was cancelled today, so some of the county must still be frozen. The sun has been ablaze since sunrise today and it actually was in the 40's here!

H E A T W A V E !!!! We're looking at some 50's potentially by week's end!!! I know spring is not in the air because my bones hurt like crazy, but the locals are out buying spring clothes now. I guess when you live in this all your life, spring is something you try to push along. Paul & I have been reading books of local lore ~ and if anything they've indicated is true, you can't even plant flowers until after Memorial Day! In Atlanta it was EASTER, in Orlando, well ... whenever you want! Although I understand Orlando had a little cool spell and everyone is renewed and happy! I always loved the 3 weeks of winter we had there. I went outside today for a little while and watched some of the ice cycles fall off of the house and crash to the ground like daggers. I don't remember that in Orlando. When we go from Elk Park to Banner Elk we go across a mountain. The scenery is scrumptious and I keep meaning to take my camera so I can share it with you all. The water that is coming down the mountain is frozen in motion on the sides of the rocks. The stream that is on the side of the road is frozen, the rocks are covered in ice and snow. It is breathtaking to see and so simply peaceful to listen to the stillness of the earth. It's one of my greatest pleasures here.

Speaking of pics, the ones above are, of course, the guest room. The lighting in there is so very difficult to get pictures with. I'll try again in the dark and see if it works better without the light coming into the room. Maybe I can actually get the flash to work ... but anyway ... we are very tickled with what we've accomplished to date upstairs. And our first guests didn't fall through the floor or get into a flood or anything other than be comfortable, albeit a bit chilly without the space heater. The wall turned out to be gorgeous. It's going to take several weeks of consistent cleaning and polishing that wood since it was covered with paper and paste for so long. But in a few weeks, it's going to have a patina that will really highlight its natural beauty. A friend of mine is redoing her condo and is going to donate her current bathroom vanity to us! So that lovely camp vanity that is in the bathroom now will have to go ... takes away some of the character, but I think we'll live without it. I know the boys would love it, but the adult guests might prefer a more updated version, so we're grateful to have the donation! We've put the word out to everyone we know that we take unwanted furniture! It's a fun treasure chest around here!

We went to our friend's surprise birthday party Saturday night (Barry, the realtor who sold us this house - and Caroline, his wife who I work for now) and we got about 1/3 of the way up Beech Mountain when Paul announced we were losing traction. I was so proud when he stopped, turned around, went down to the bottom and called for a shuttle to the top!! It was a fun time at the party, plenty of great food and wine, and even better company! There were people there that we felt very lucky to meet. Beech Mountain is one of the ski resort areas around here, and although there are about 1700 home/condo owners, there are only about 300 year round residents. It's a great area for people who want to live on top of a mountain in a community like that one. It's also a GREAT place to rent for ski season, and for hiking season. This past 3 day weekend (today included, I guess) is apparently the last big ski weekend for the tourists up here, so things will be wrapping up until warmer weather now. I guess that's why Mother Nature gave us such a fabulous weekend of snow, so the economy here and the skiers could all get their money's worth! We were trying to go out and eat Friday night w/ Jon and Melissa, but the reservations are only made for parties of 8 or more ... and waiting for a couple of hours in a bar of drink and smoke wasn't on my list of "want tos" ... so Jon made us a delicious steak dinner with all the fixins of a fine chef, and we stayed in and ate, drank and played Scattergories, which was SO FUN! Thanks, kids, for humoring us old folks for a little while!

So, this week is President's Day, Shrove Tuesday (for which Paul insists I must make pancakes) and the start of lent ... along with Ms. Kelly's birthday on Saturday!!! Happy Birthday, Kel! Wish I could be there to sing to you ... but maybe we can recapture the celebration spirit when I do get there ......... or you get here! You'll have your very own "suite" this time! In the news today, they rescued 3 hikers (thank GOD) from a horrendous snow storm in Oregon, I think ... and Brittney Spears shaved her head. Hmmm .... Hope everyone is well and happy and we hope to hear from you all soon! Paul & Cheri

updating ...

Well, Jon (my son) and his girlfriend Melissa arrived Monday night! Melissa said she prayed for snow, and of course, her prayers were answered! It's been snowing, and it's C O L D enough to be a deep freeze! She and Jon were throwing snow balls at each other yesterday morning by 8 AM. My goodness, it must be nice to be young! I was freezing just thinking about doing that! It hasn't been much above freezing in days now! We're looking forward to next week when we're hearing about maybe 40 degrees! Yippee! A heat wave!

Paul and I worked around most of the clock this past weekend and the weekend previously to make sure the guest bedroom and bathroom were worthy of company. Paul built a closet in the guest bedroom, hung a door on the guest bathroom, hung multitudes of shelves and wall decor, cut wood for the bed slats, and scrapped a ton of wall paper from the tongue and groove walls! It was a very productive few days for us ... and I must say, we're plumb tuckered out! So it's nice to have company for an excuse to not do construction labor for a little bit!!! Jon is a chef by trade ... so it has been a tasty treat to have him around here! Tuesday night when I got home from teaching, a gorgeous salmon dinner had been prepared AND the BED was in our BEDROOM!!!!! All kinds of very wonderful things are happening !! Who knew!!!! I don't have a pic of the guest room to post yet ... there are guests in it! But next time ...

On the real life front, our middle grandson, Cade turned 5 years old on Feb. 9th! The time flies by so quickly! Happy Birthday, CADE!!!! Trusting all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day! And finally CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DANCERS AT THE DANCERS POINTE!!!! And of course, congratulations to the teachers and staff for giving the kids such great instruction and love. I understand the competition went very well and everyone did an excellent job! Mr. Paul and I knew you would all be great! The above pic gives you an idea of the dancer's willingness to do whatever it takes to make the dance great! Congrats to all!

Until next time .... stay warm! Paul & Cheri

Remission!

Whilst roaming about the house this morning, concerning myself with the silly petty things in life, I received my morning phone call from my beautiful daughter. This is the blessing she bestowed upon us today:

After meeting with her "flock" of doctors yesterday, Jennifer has been declared in remission. She has been cancer free approaching 14 months now! What a beautiful word the "R" word is. It is a very sacred and special word in our lives and the lives of countless others. We have longed to hear it declared for ages. To everyone who has prayed and sent good, healthy thoughts to Jennifer and our family, we thank you with all our hearts. May God bless you all as deeply and lovingly as we have been blessed! With great gobs of gratitude and a special lightness in my heart today, I wish you all a wonderful day! Cheri

The Bedrooms!

Here are some before and after pics of our newest concentration areas ... the bedrooms! The upstairs "guest suite" used to have some blue plastic on it, under which was some funky cardboard backed wallpaper ... upon which there was found to be copious amounts of wallpaper glue! So, these pics are what the wall looked like after removal of all that, what the wall looked like prior to removal and (the bottom of this page for some reason) the big wall showing what it looks like during the process of removing the paste! It is similar to taking 50 million price stickers off of picture frame glass! It takes forever! Thankfully, Paul got into the act on Sunday and knocked out half of the big wall in less than the time it took me to do the small wall! But hopefully, it'll get finished quickly! We worked in that room most of Sunday, painting, scraping, cleaning, scrubbing and vacuuming the ceiling beams and fans. It was very rewarding, as you can see that kind of stuff right away! Now for the assembly of the bedroom! The fun stuff for this weekend!

Our bedroom floor is a before and after. (again, for some reason the pictures posted at the bottom of the page?) Paul got all the edges sanded this past weekend! Isn't it gorgeous? And unbelievably the same floor! We need to poly it next and it'll be finished! I've been trying to match paint to that lovely wallpaper for a week! I think I've finally found what is going to work the best - so hopefully by this evening's retirement hour, it'll be finished! Paul's putting drywall in the closet that is the most "scary" and then we'll probably be ready to make the move in to the bedroom, even though there are more things to do (like the ceiling)! I'm looking very forward to being in a bedroom again, although it'll be weird at first not to be in the open part of the house!

On the life front, the temp went down to around zero last night. That was not taking the wind chill into consideration! It was 6 below zero on Beach Mtn. last night, where my realtor boss, Caroline lives! Also, no wind chill taken into count there. We're supposed to be getting some very major wind tonight - about 65 mph. I went to the grocery store last night after teaching and it was bitter cold (mostly on the face) ... I can't imagine what it'll be like in the wind --- but I'm fixin' to find out because I work until 8pm this evening! BRRRRRRRRRR. I'm supposed to hear from the HVAC guy today about his recommendation to heat this big ole house. Can't wait for that report! The other two fellas came in around 10 grand! $$$ Yikes! We're not in Orlando any more, that's for sure!

I took a trip to the city on Saturday (Johnson City, TN), it was so nice to get out and about! Came back with treasures for my grandson's 5th birthday (CADE) on Feb. 9th; a slew of hoolahoops for my little one's classes; some fresh catnip for the boys; and some paint for the bedroom (not the right color, but paint nevertheless). It was great to take the trip (and got to go with a girlfriend, Beth!) - the drive alone is breath taking, but with the frozen mountains ~ all the white landscape ~ it looks like a totally different place. Still GORGEOUS!!! We are so lucky. :-)

Well, it's off to the paint store! Do hope all of you are happy and healthy. Good luck to The Dancer's Pointe competitors this weekend! Mr. Paul and I will be sending you all lots of good thoughts, good luck wishes and we REALLY miss being there with y'all!!! We know ALL y'all will be THE BEST!!!!! xoxox

Along with Cade's birthday on the 9th, Valentine's Day is coming up. Hope all of you have happy hearts to celebrate with! Until next time, Paul & Cheri

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

Christmas Blessings!

Paul & I went to Atlanta on Christmas Eve and spent several days there with the kids. Hey, you guys were great hosts and hostesses and thank you very much for that! These pictures are of our Atlanta Christmas blessings. We have more blessings floating around (like in Orlando, for example) but these are the ones we have pictures of to share from this Christmas! Enjoy!

The first picture is of Mr. Paul with his camouflage hat (decorated with Christmas bows!) and his waders (for metal detecting in the rivers, of course!) He seemed quite pleased with these things ... as his expression eludes to (I think?).

Next - the three amigos (left to right are Cade, Christian and Austin) eating their Christmas lunchables! (what else!?!) Next picture is a very blurry (sorry you guys) picture of Jenn and her husband Vic ... and Jenn is as "healthy as a horse" this Christmas ~ which has been THE absolute number one Christmas blessing and we are most grateful! Next pic is Jon and his Melissa ... followed by Cade, Austin and Christian the Builder (with his assistant Paul-Paul) and finally my very favorite picture of the three amigos ... they are so very precious and definitely BIG blessings! So ... more details later, just sharing pictures today! Paul & I are back home, safe and sound, and a little bit tired! Happy New Year to all!!!!! Paul & Cheri

Multi-Tasking!

As I'm sure the rest of the Christmas celebrating folks can relate to, 'tis the season to multi-task. Along with our painting projects, our insulating the basement, our day-to-day lives in Elk Park, NC, there has come this gargantuan task of preparing for the celebration of the Christmas holiday! I, for one, am a BIG celebrator of the joy and happiness of the holiday spirit, so I definitely prepare and celebrate!

As you can see, Christian and I fully decorated while he was here, so we are certain the spirit of Christmas will live in this house while we go to Atlanta to celebrate the days of Christmas with the boys! Whatever decorations we could not find in the "box room" are certainly not going to be missed!

Our packages are wrapped (I finished the last of it today~ YEAH!!!!!) and the mailings are finished. So, we can now return to the dizzying tasks we were ignoring. (you know, washing clothes, dishes, etc!) However, I still have quite a bit of holiday baking to do and we are entertaining for our first time since the move on Saturday night. Our first Christmas dinner in this house! Just hoping Paul will feel better and be able to enjoy his coveted triffle! He, of course, now has the crud that has so generously shared itself amongst us all.

Paul insulated the kitchen floor over the weekend (thank goodness it's so much warmer!) and was fully dust coated upon completion! We were lucky to have found a carpet business that was getting rid of "off cuts" and remnants. So, being the thrifty homeowners we have now become, we jumped upon that opportunity! It is proving to make wonderful insulation for our humble, albeit drafty abode! Only 2,000 sq. ft. to go!!!!

I finished doing the faux wash in the kitchen. It warmed up the room nicely (feels like a kitchen now!) and sort of looks like the background to an old world map! The above picture casts a pinkish tint that it doesn't actually have ~ I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Nice when a plan actually comes together!

We attended a Holiday Celebration at Dirk's house (Paul's boss) and met yet another slew of people. Eventually, we'll have a collection of people we can talk about ... for now it's mostly y'all! HA! Just kidding! We are still mostly tickled with our daily run ins with the locals and share all the little nuances of mountain life. It's actually been in the upper 60s here for several days! We have been very fortunate to have been warm for several days running! I know the cooler air is headed our way, but I'm so thankful to Mother Nature for having the heart to break us in slowly. I think our adjustment period might be coming to a screeching halt, but at least the Christmas shopping is done and I won't freeze going to and fro. :-) I'm hoping for safe traveling weather. We're going to Atlanta on Christmas Eve so we can have Christmas with the grandboys. Hopefully, the roads will remain clear going AND coming home! One never knows around here!

Hey, we also saw the new James Bond movie this weekend. A MUCH better flick than I had anticipated ... and so much better than the ones previously. I don't even like James Bond movies, but I somehow enjoyed this one. Could have been the blued eyed man that took over the 007 role. He was quite enjoyable. And for you men folk, there are some absolutely luscious ladies to watch. I know Charlotte's Web is probably the real movie to see, but I haven't seen it yet, so can't recommend it! ;-)

As of mid January I am going to be the ballet teacher at Carolina Cheer and Dance Company in Newland, NC. (The town with 2 stop lights) The gal who owns it is not from here either, and no one on staff is local. Should be interesting watching us break "them" all in! They haven't had a ballet program to date, so it'll be a new and exciting endeavor. I'm very excited about it, and excited to go back to work. I've had enough of being a renovator full time! Do y'all remember Ralph on Green Acres? Well, that's who I feel like most of the time! I'll be glad to get back to tights and leotards and plies and tendus. And for those of you who think I just began speaking another language, I did! It's french ... no worries. :-)

Well, will sign off and go check on the now sick Mr. Paul. He's probably ready to play x-box ... and if he's not, well, we'll know he's not feeling well at all. Y'all take good care and be careful out there running around with holiday spirit! Remember this, you mustn't try to be in the same place at the same time as another. There will most assuredly be impact! Cheers to all! Paul and Cheri