My Nut Village

Tile and tub are finished  Here’s some before and after shots of the floor.   

Shower/tub area.  There’s still something they have to fix with the thing that makes the deal do what it does.  I’m sorry if that is too technical. 

Here’s the hallway rug shot.  It’s a lot lighter than I was expecting, but I like it.  The kids are not allowed to walk on it. 

They asked, “But how do we get to our rooms?” 

And I said, “You know, I can’t solve all of the problems around here.  Figure it out.  Sheesh!” 

They’re not allowed on the stairs, either.  Neither are their shoes.  That’s just good parenting, people.  Learn from me!

This is how we roll with math in the homeshizzle…Peace out! 

This is my bedroom. 

This is my bedroom.

This, too, is my bedroom.

This is my new carpet. 

The worker men are hard workers.  Loud, hard workers.  They’re also finishing up the bathroom.  I will post after pics when I recover from the noise induced hearing loss.  So, if you leave a comment, please do it in all caps.  I may not hear you otherwise…

This was taken at a church high school choir banquet, circa 1984ish.  Pastel taffeta was the new black, apparently.  For me, it was all about shimmer that evening.  I think the dress was inspired by Princess Leia.   And check. out. my hose!  And, what’s that on my ear?  Could it be?  Yes, another earring made by moi using items purchased at Michael’s.   

I still have one of them and here’s a closer shot of the survivor of the pair.  (Please, don’t judge me by photographic abilities)  (Or my jewelry choices)

Javier, the worker man,  just showed up to ease my fears of my children falling through the floor while they take a bath.  Since my kids don’t have time to put the shower curtain inside of the tub when they shower, we have a bad case of mushy floor.  I hate bad cases of mushy floor. 

So, Javier and his side kick are ripping this out as we speak.  He’s going to replace the floor and put in a new, shiny tub.  And I’m convinced they’re going to plunge to their deaths in the process.  I’m going to miss them because they sound like Jefe from The Three Amigos.   

Anywho…here is the floor.  If they survive the fall, they will put down tile. 

We’re replacing the vanity with two pedestal sinks.  Behind the door is a huge closet to put all of their junk, so I wanted to streamline a bit.  All that was ever under the vanity was random plastic army men and dirty underwear.  Why do they do this?  Do they think I can’t trace it back to them? 

As I end this post, I’m encouraged by their progress.  No one has fallen through onto my dining table.    Here’s hoping…

EEEWWWWW!  Here’s the floor after they took out the tub and flooring.  Everybody…EEEWWWWW!!

I’m somewhere under the floral dress.  I’m sportin’ a “finger wave” in my bangs.  Made my own earrings with silk flowers and tassels from Michael’s.  Yes, tassels.   

My mom came through for me and sent me some pictures in honor of my upcoming reunion.  These were taken at a Graduation Dinner.  I want you to really ponder and appreciate the hair and earrings.  I look like I have yellow surf boards hanging from my ears.   That would make sense considering the theme of my ensemble.  ‘Cuz dinosaurs and surf boards go together.  Dinosaurs?  Huh? 

**click on image for optimal awesomeness…

This is my friend, Beana, her shoulder pads and some random dude.  I’m the one in the dinosaurs.  You see, I worked at Michael’s and had access to plenty of sponge paint and T-shirt dresses.  Let’s get a broader view, shall we?

The dress had elastic across the widest part of my hips.  A flattering choice.  Not.  That’s my sister on my right in the subtle, yellow striped shirt and equally subtle shoulder pads.  Look at her laboring to stand upright under the weight of those puppies!  And, please…don’t miss the bow on the top row. 

Stay tuned for more 80s fashion…

Look at me!  No, I know you can’t really look at me…but LOOK AT ME!!!  20 YEARS?!?  Have I really been alive to do 20 years of anything?!?    What do you do at a 20yr reunion?  I need advice.  I need etiquette help.  I need to know what business formal means.  What the heck am I supposed to wear?  I need to find some pics.  Surely, there’s pics, Suz?  (My Mom) 

Last summer, on one of our trips to Galveston, Darren captured this shot.  He and I took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula so we could get away from our kids have some alone time. 

This is a shot of the Seawall.  It’s hard to imagine that just a week ago the waves were crashing over it!  I wonder if the graffiti is still there.  *If you click on the images, you’ll get a larger version.

We woke up Friday morning and turned on the TV. They were reporting live from Galveston and we couldn’t believe the size of the waves crashing on the Seawall.  

Here are some before shots of our front and back yards.  The chairs are lined up to be gently tossed into the pool so they don’t get blown around.                                      
                             

Did I say gently tossed?

Here’s a last minute effort to wear the kids out.  At this point the wind is picking up just a bit.  Nothing too wicked. 

We cooked throughout the day and watched the ’round the clock coverage.  The kids played outside until the last possible minute.  We made pizza (Friday is pizza night.  Even during a hurricane) and waited for the power to go out.  It did.  We lost power at about 8:45.  The kids were hanging upstairs and freaked!  I met them at the stairs with flashlights.  Everyone had their own.  I lit some candles and we settled everyone in the laundry room.  There is one small window that we boarded up and we filled the room with blankets and pillows.  Our oldest had her iPod and the others listened to audio books.  It worked like a charm.  They were all asleep before the first strong gust!  They rested comfortably until about 3:00 am.  At that point we were having sustained winds of about 35-40 mph. (Our guess)  Gusts possibly up to 75 mph. (Again, a guess)  Thankfully, not the 100-110 mph we were expecting.  We went out just for a minute into our screen room.  All we could see were the trees swaying wildly.  And then something (we think a transformer) blew.  Like exploded.  It moaned like the monster on LOST.  I swear.  It lit up the sky and I. was. outta. there.  When we got inside, we giggled at how silly we were and then everyone went back to sleep.  So, all in all, for us it was just a really long, strong Spring storm.  We feel really blessed to have come through it without any major issues.  unlike so many.  My heart breaks for those closer to the coast and those East of us that are still suffering without power and water.  Here are some after shots…

Lots and lots of leaves. 

Small branches here and there.

And we lost part of our fence.  I feel we were lucky that we had the big grapevine to hold the fence together.  The fence seemed to just lay down under it’s weight.  That woulda been a pain to dig outta the pool.  Our neighbor helped us kinda prop it back up with wood and stuff until we can replace it.  (It really was more involved than “wood and stuff”.  I just can’t be bothered with the jobs of the menfolk.)  It’s safe and stable.  Please don’t call CPS. 

So, there you go!  We made it.  We’re safe.  We’re thankful.

Ike proved to be less menacing than we expected.  The kids slept right through it with the help of a little Benadryl and their audio books.  We woke up Saturday early to lots of small branches covering the ground and a downed fence.  I have some before and after pics I’ll post in the next update.  Coulda been worse.  Really.  We had power back by Saturday night as we fired up the grill to cook chicken.  It was a blessing because we had a big event planned for Sunday morning. 

Thankfully our church never lost power and we were able to proceed as planned.  Our music pastor sang an incredible song that reminded me of how very blessed we are as a family and community.  Here are the words:

The Anchor Holds

by Ray Boltz

The Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
Well I have fallen on my knees,
    as I faced the raging sea,
But the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.

O, the Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
Well I have fallen on my knees,
    as I faced the raging seas.
O, the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.

•  
  The Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
  The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
  I have fallen, fallen down on my knees
      as I faced the raging seas.
  But the Anchor holds; O, in spite of the storm. I said I’ve fallen, fallen down on my knees
      as I faced the raging seas;
  But the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.
  I have journeyed through the long, dark night
  Out on the open sea,
  By faith alone, sight unknown,
  And yet His eyes were watching me.  

I’ve had visions and I’ve had dreams;
Well I’ve even held them in my hands,
But I never knew those dreams could slip right through
Like they were only grains of sand.

Now I have been young, but I am older now.
O and there has been beauty these eyes have seen;
But it was in the night, when I faced the storms of my life.
Oh, that’s where God proved His love to me.

He’s bearing down on us.  We still haven’t seen any wind or rain.  We’re making pizza and watching Galveston get hammered.  The rednecks are out in force.  The storm surge of Bud Light is taking over our street.  Does FEMA cover that?