Night and day

The above pic, if you can stand the screen as it was from my upstairs window, this is a pic of the skyline I see out my back window of an evening. I figured I would get some pics now that the smoke has cleared some. THANK GOODNESS.

Below is a pic standing in my driveway. I realized yesterday we have a great view of the mountain out the front. I am absolutely loving my new place. I am, however, jumping out of my bed at 3 a.m. to answer the doorbell when I hear the train whistle blow :) The temps have been getting to around 55 at night, so I have been sleeping with the windows open. It's like camping in a cozy bed!

Heidi Ho, Neighbor!

Above is a picture of the gaping hole in the ceiling in the kitchen. It was a bigger than your normal light fixture hole, so we have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I have been looking at a light for about 2 months now that I wanted to go over this island. When I first started looking, it was $200. I went to Home Depot the other day and lo and behold, it was on sale for $99. Bargain, I thought!

I got it to the checkout and it rang up for $79.99. We still really had this issue of what to do because of that huge hole though. I had looked at medallions to go around the base plate. It just so happened, this plate is oval shaped. I looked and looked and looked. I found some things online, but they were SOO expensive. So my McGiver and I went to work!

Isn't he so cute when he's working? Yeah, I know, he's cute no matter what! So the person he calls Heidi (think Tool Time) came up with a brilliant idea. I thought, let's go look at Michael's and see if they have a piece of wood that is oval shaped. I found a piece of wood that was a whole 2 bucks! Yipppeee! A can of spray paint as close to the color as we could get was 6 bucks. Studmuffin was pretty happy with this bargain!

Below is the finished product.



There are two lights connected. I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Hubby is so funny. When I would hand him a tool or whatever, he would say, Thank you, Heidi! I think he and I SHOULD have our own home improvement show. It would be funny to say the least. It might not be suitable for children though :)

What a week!

It absolutely FLEW by even though not much of it was spent sleeping! For me, anyway.

I keep telling myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and to pace myself. But I want the pace car out of the way, and let's get to some green flag racing :)

I have worked my kids to death, too. He-man wants to go to work so he doesn't have to work here! haha They have really done a good job. We are all moved out of the other house. Hubby is off tomorrow, so I imagine we'll knock out a few things around here. He says I cannot install an elevator WHY NOT?

Actually, it might be a good thing. I think I have lost weight already by going up and down those stairs 4 bazillion times a day!

I'm still not able to take any cool sunset pics. The smoke is still really bad. The news is saying not to let children stay out in it as it is very unhealthy air. I consider myself lucky to not have asthma or allergies or anything of the sort. I know some people are having a time with it, even without having those things.

Within a couple days, the kids have made friends on this street. Even He-man. He was actually upright for over 3 hours today throwing baseball and playing pool. Yes, I was shocked, too. Hopefully he never figures out the bluetooth thing, or he'd still be throwing baseball or playing pool while talking on the phone!

I'll try to document some progress on here tomorrow. For now, I'm outta here!

How cute are they?

This is a pic of my little baby boys. In our move, they found an unopened Corvette model. I just walked by and saw them putting it together. I hope they get along this well for the rest of their lives. They've been working their butts off. Good kids. Most of the time...

I saved the best for last

I should make this pic a "caption it" and if any of you creative ones want to go for it in the comments, please do.

Studmuffin and I really got a good chuckle out of this. This is what you get if you pay a fortune for a home in California. This is my new back yard :) Isn't it lovely?

Hubs and I laughed because at the same time, we both said......"you might be a redneck."

I actually like this picture. I like my back yard. I like my hundred year old grill. I like my non grass (altho Jack hates it) It's all ours! Home sweet home. You'll be able to witness the transformation as it happens. Haha, IF it ever happens!

If I get up early enough

In this house, I can see the sunrise, too. I plan on getting magnificent sunsets, but I definitely was in awe of the big orange ball in the morning sky. I still think sunsets are easier to photograph, or may I just need a filter on my lens. Regardless, I was trying hard to capture the beauty out my back door.

The past few days, you can't even see the mountain or hills around here because of the smoke from the brush fires. I think some is visible in this pic.

Is being called a redneck a compliment?

Yesterday, I was moving the half a bazillion pieces out of the kitchen and pantry. We didn't pack anything before we moved, for one, because we didn't even know WHEN we would be moving, but for two, we thought to save on boxes (trash is hard to get rid of in California) we would just use plastic containers and our trucks and just move all the little stuff and put it away and go back for more.

Well, in my kitchen yesterday, I was not individually wrapping all the glass pieces. In fact, I had found about 6 brown paper bags from the grocery store. I would take a box, strategically place glasses in it, then weave the brown paper bags between the glasses. It REALLY was quicker than wrapping them, and quicker than it sounds.

I came home and asked the Husband if he liked my creativity. He said, awwww, you're a redneck!

I told He-man that his daddy was calling me a redneck.

He said....isn't that a compliment??