New Coat of Paint

You know how you want to do something and it's hard to get going - You start by telling everybody you meet. Puts you into "I told someone so I have to do it" mentality. Kinda like a diet.
Well, Mike and I didn't have any more vacations planned for the summer and I needed a project so I decided to paint our house.
I told EVERYBODY "I'm going to paint my house!"
next question was always - Inside or outside?
OUTSIDE.
I told...
My family.
All my neighbors.
I told my dentist office.
I put my Chiropractor on stand by.
I asked Logan "If I get stuck will you come and help me - I'm painting our house!"
I found the perfect color. I was tired of the white. Boring! (Mike agreed).
It's a green/gray. Looks gray in the sun and green in the shade. I was kinda limited on the color. The windows are all aluminium and hunter green - Not changing the trim.
I bought a platform ladder. It's perfect and I can reach to the top of every side of the house.
I told the guy at Ace hardware, where I got the paint, I'm painting my house!
I treated myself to a new paint pan and roller.(which I ended up not using. I found a smaller foam roller worked better)
I Bought my first gallon. I decided to get one gallon at a time. I didn't know how much I needed (took 3 gallons) and I new this was going to take some time and I didn't want the paint to sit around.

Mike went to work - Sharen left on vacation. I had nothing to do and no reason to not get started. So I put my painting clothes on and grab my tools.
I had big dreams of painting a side every 2 days.
I had no idea the prep work involved.
Scraping! Caulking! and Power Washing! UGH
But I knew that stuff was important.
I started on the back side of the house.

After looking at this picture. I'm thinking - Can you even tell I painted? So I then started taking some before and after pics.
I knew asking for help was a no go. It was hot. I wanted to work at my own speed and my own schedule. So I just plugged along. Sometimes slugged along.

Me - plugging

Green in the shade

Mike did help me with taking the brackets off the down spouts so I could paint behind them. He also removed and replaced the light fixtures.

I was so happy to see some rainy days I really needed a break.
I was determined to finish up this week.
I turned the corner on Thursday and finally saw the end in sight. I waited to finished up on this side. It was in the sun. I did mention it was hot...

The house is painted. I still want to go around looking for spots that need some touch up but the white is all gone.

Front before

Front after

Oh my,  what a project. Our house is clean and freshly painted. Only took me 2 1/2 weeks.
Me, Karen, actually painted our freaking house.
All by myself.  I can say that because Sharen offered to help a few times after she got back from vacation, but she always stepped back so I could say it. "Yup, I did it all by myself!!!

My Baby turns 40

Bryan is 40.
He didn't want a big deal made about it and certainly not a party.
We had them over for a little celebration and it was all about fun for the boys.
I bought a slip n slide for our hill out front. Boy did the little guys have fun. Score one for Grandma.

taking turns



Mike of course had to join them

Singing happy Birthday!
Red Velvet (his favorite) Cupcakes. I made half with cream cheese and the other half with plain buttercream frostings.




Looking up to Daddy

I found a Star War Darth Vader piñata and we hung it in the tree above the slip n slide to see if someone would notice. Luke spotted it right away. 

Hit it hard, Daddy

Scoping up the candy

I couldn't help but think back about Bryan's first time swinging at a piñata. I handmade it. I don't have a picture. 

Bryan and his future

So Goodbye Thirties. Hello to being 40.















Visiting Meemaw and Papa

I wonder if the little Grandkids are going to remember me.
I pretty sure the older ones, Dylan, Logan and Kaylyn won't forget me, but Roger, Luke and Owen are still little... So when they come to stay with us for a few days I want to do things they will remember. May need some pictures to jog the memory, so I take a bunch of those too.
On Roger and Luke's latest visit. It was a rainy day. I announced that we were headed to the library and both boy weren't too interested.
"But they have dinosaurs!"

"And fun things to do! Trust me, You will have fun"

Both boys had to wear one of Mike's hats

They had 16 different dinosaur exhibits and fun things all pertaining to the dinosaur. They had a table outdoors where you could dig for bones. Roger took a beeline for it and accidently went out a fire exit door. Yup, the sirens went off and he got scared. The lady came to turn it off and Roger apologized. It was too wet to dig anyway.

Lets take him home

I grabbed some books for bedtime reading. The boys played and Mike rocked in one of the rockers. Good Time had by all. Both agreed our Library is pretty awesome.

Now back home to the legos and puzzles.

Master lego Builder

One of Bryan's old transformer puzzles

Next day was an afternoon spent with Papa in his work area. Mike let them hammer and screw and build and paint with all his scrap wood.

Luke wants me to help him pick out wood

start of something tall

No idea what it is, but it had to be white

The boys were in heaven. Mike enjoyed it too.

On our last day Mike went into work so I took the boys out to visit. Ever since we went to the strawberry patch they wanted to see "Papa's Tractor"
I called ahead and asked Jon, The golf pro and my nephew, if I could borrow a golf cart to take them out to find Mike.
He told Roger and Luke that they could even drive.
" What? You can't tell them that!"

We found him on the 10th hole.

Both boys got to climb on his tractor.

Mike drove away and then I let both boys drive the golf cart. Luke had to sit on my lap, but Roger was all about standing and doing all the driving.
I hope it's something that they will remember.
That afternoon was a little dryer so Mike took the boys over to the park. I stayed home.
They came home with toys and candy.
"Oh yeah, we stopped at the store and got snacks for the movie tonight." The toy aisle was next to the candy aisle.

After our last full day together we settle in to watch "Finding Dory". Watching Luke and Roger cuddle up to Mike I realize we don't have to DO something every minute of every day they are with us. Some memories are just made by fixing a puzzle together, creating something out of Legos, or just hanging out watching a movie.

The Twins

Sharen and I were "The Twins".
I always got asked -
 Aren't you one of the twins?
Which twin are you?
Twins right?
You look like twins?
And so on and so forth...
It's so much easier to say twins than Karen and Sharen.

I stopped in at Sharens because I knew she had all the grandkids over and I wanted to see them.
Ben hasn't figured out quite yet that Grandma has someone who looks and sounds like her. Matthew announced that I was Grandma's twin.
Kallie tells me that her and Kendell are twins but they don't look alike. Sitting together arms around each other.
I filled her in that sometimes being a twin is not how you look, but how you feel.
Both girls looked at each other and Got It!

I thought OMG They are the twins now.
Carrie informs us that "the twins" are going to be in the SE parade.
She meant Kendell and Kallie...
The new twins.
Sharen and I will always be "The twins" to some people who don't know the new ones. But I will gladly pass on to the Zierk twins, the title of "the twins" in our family. I'm sure Sharen feels the same.
So I headed on down to the parade so I could get a picture of "the twins" and their dance group.

Kendell has the parade wave down

Kallie 

They had the girls on opposite sides of the truck so yes I ran out during the parade so I could get a picture of both.
The girls need to tell them they want to be together for pictures - they'll learn.

Strawberry Pickin"

The Flory boys love strawberries.
I researched "pick your own" in our area and was disappointed to see that the prime time is when we would be gone on vacation. I signed up for the email updates anyway - just in case.
Turns out all that rain we had for a few days delayed the season and we could go.

Sunday we met the Flory family to pick us some strawberries. The weather was cool and sunny -  perfect picking!

The boys were so excited. They took their first wagon ride.

And when Mike told them that the tractor was the just like the one that he drove everyday - well, they got really excited.

Didn't take us long to get to the picking site.

Heading out to the fields

Luke was very concerned that he wouldn't have enough time. I assured him he could stay all day if he needed to..

Red ones only

papa showing Owen "the good ones"

Roger and Luke dove right in

looked what I picked

Owen weighed in at 1.4 lbs - Luke at 1.8 and Roger was the heaviest at 2.25.
And the best part was we could take them all home. Even the mushy and yellow ones.

 Since we were celebrating a late Father's Day we had to stop for a picture with Papa and Daddy.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

Our annual trip to NY to visit with Steve started out with a stop in Cleveland.
Sox Game... We got great seats on the first base side, third row.

After a rain delay of 40 minutes - which was a good thing because it took me that long to find plain nachos with the crappy yellow cheese - That's all I wanted. Not the loaded soggy mess they were trying to sell. Cleveland concessions suck! Game started out great, but Sox Lose. I have to say the Cleveland fans are really sore winners. I finally had to tell them they were playing the Sox and not the Cubs. "Chicago is Chicago" they say. OMG They are So wrong.

Sunday we had a cook out. Mike grilled and Dennis, Steve's boss came over. Relaxing afternoon.

.Weather was hot, but we did manage to take a day to play golf. We found a great course last year and found it was just as enjoyable this time.
Wednesday's are matinees. Steve treated us to "Miss Saigon".
The girl who played the lead was up for a Tony at age 21. She lost to Bette Midler - she had no chance. But man is she really good. I can not understand how a stage actor can get up for so much emotion every performance.

Me, Mike and Barbara, Steve's friend who lives in NYC

Steve's house is 20 minutes from West Point so Mike and I decided to take a tour of the place. We loaded onto a bus with 23 Chinese/Vietnamese/Laotian. I don't know what they were, but none spoke English. We had the guide all to ourselves. We got out 3 different times to walk. It was a great tour.
Highly recommended.

Our last stop was on the way home for a Cubs game in Pittsburgh. Great seats again down the first base side. Row 2. The fans around us here were very friendly.

After dragging Mike to 5 different stadiums to watch the Sox it was only fair I go to one for him. Only it was a throw back game between the Leland Giants (Cubs) against the Grays (Pirates). UGH... I don't know who plays on the Cubs and now they don't have their names on their jerseys. Mike was very patient with me and all my questions.

Now Pittsburgh has some great food. Concession stands everywhere. We both liked the place. AND the Cubs gave Mike a winner in the top of the ninth.
I also did something very smart this time I booked our hotel right across the street from both stadiums. While everyone is paying $50 in Cleveland and $35 in Pittsburgh to park. We walked and were back in our room in 15 minutes. Granted we paid a litle more for the room, but so worth it.

The trip was a busy week and it is always great to visit with Steve and his family. Jack, Sally, Mia, Chanel, Milo and Millie. Thanks for having us again, Steve. Oh, and a big thanks for the chocolate, chocolate chip cheesecake. Yummy...

Drawing

Whenever I am asked who my favorite teacher was I always say, without hesitation, Mr. Krultz, my middle school grade Art teacher. (Mr. Z my HS geometry teacher comes in a close second.)
It's not to hard to figure out why.
Mr. Krultz developed my creative side. He told me I had a natural talent for it and encouraged me for 3 years at the Middle School level. I never felt like it was a slack off class where you just go to get a credit. Even in HS it was my favorite class of the day.

I haven't picked up a pencil to draw a picture in a LONG time, but when I was cleaning I came across my pencils and thought I would give it a try again. See if I still had it...

Mary thought so. I drew her this for her birthday. Bryan liked it too.

Luke, Roger, Owen

Gotta say it was pretty fun.