That's right, we've been wielding paint brushes around here again. James bought a new paint sprayer a couple of weeks ago, but we haven't gotten around to using it yet for one reason or another. One reason: he didn't feel like it. Another: me either. :-) Last night we decided: IT'S TIME. James even set his alarm so we could get an early start. (It's best to do any outdoor labor before noon around here, -- it's just way too hot after that, usually!) Well, we got up, got our paint clothes on, started collecting our supplies, opened the door and ~whoosh!~ WIND. Lots of it. You can't use a paint sprayer when it's windy!!! At least WE can't. We're worried about the overspray ruining the rest of our house or our cars or our neighbors' yards even on a calm day. It's our first time, mind you. So scratch that plan. No spraying the carport today.

Instead, James went and picked up a quart of "Foxtail" red -- burgundy, really -- paint. It's our second try with shades of red. I gave up on blue after the third failure, remember? I painted part of the trim a light brown color instead, but have been determined to paint the shutters a dark red color. The first shade of red was far too bright. It was a reach-out-and-slap-you-and-shout-"Hey, look at ME!!! I'm RED!" kind of red. Just too much, you know? Anyway, on only our second try this time we were able to nail it! I LOVE IT. It's almost exactly what I had envisioned, just a tad bit darker. It adds just enough flair to the otherwise boring shades on the rest of the house. So we now have a yellow brick home with cream and tan trim and, as of today, dark red shutters, front door, garage door and side gates. It makes me so happy! I think the name Foxtail isn't the most accurate description of this shade though. It should rightfully be called Chameleon Red due to it's ability to imitate 6 or eight different shades throughout the course of the day. The most drastic change occured in the evening when most of the red tones disappeared nearly completely and the paint put on it's best Chocolate Brown robe. Freaky. It looks quite red in the afternoon sun, but makes it all the way to almost-brown at even. I detest brown. It's got to be the most depressing, drab color ever invented. Nonetheless, I love my freshly painted shutters and doors. I know that way deep down even when they look brown, they're really red. And that makes me happy. :-)

James just came and asked me if I was blogging about our day today or our day yesterday. "Yesterday?" I said, "What happened yesterday?" AH YES. James decided we should have a family day! So we loaded up the little ones and took off for Midland. We went to the Children's Museum down there and the kids had a blast. However, it wasn't nearly as fun as when we took the 5 younger Shuler children last year -- be sure to tell them so, Grace! :-) They change the "theme" at the Museum a few times a year and right now it's "Golf Around the World." They've got a putt-putt course set up inside with each hole representing a differnt landmark somewhere in the world (ei. Big Ben, the Taj Mahal (sp?) the Great Wall of China, etc.). It was our kids' first time to play miniature golf and it was hilarious. Kids are just so awkward with things like that, you know?! Katie kept trying to use her putter like a croquet mallet, Sam kept using his to slide the ball hockey-style toward the hole, and Joe, being the only lefty in the bunch, couldn't even figure out which side of the ball to stand on. If it weren't so funny, it would've been stressful.

After the museum we stopped at a few stores, then James took us to Barnes & Nobles before coming home. We milled around the kid section for the longest time. I picked out another book to read to them once we're finished with what we currently have (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea this time. Hope it's a good one! It's so hard to find good books that don't have a bunch of sorcery and stuff in 'em, you know?!) and we also got a couple of cheap kid books that looked really fun -- and Katie even made out with a Sticker Spelling school book. She's SO excited. It was a nice day. Oh, I almost forgot -- we ate at Furr's. You know, all the old folks' favorite cafeteria? My kids LOVE it. "We getta pick whatever we want!"

So that's about it from around here. Tomorrow I'll try to put the house back together. It always amazes me how in just ONE DAY without supervision (or under a Dad's supervision!) it can TOTALLY fall apart. That's it for now!

~ The Painting Fiend ~

I bet you didn't know that, did you? That's right, adhesive tape was invented 76 years ago today. Yep, we bought one of those doofy books that has all kinds of bizarre holidays to "celebrate." I've been telling James that I needed some ideas of things to DO with the kids. They ask several times a day, "Mom, what are we going to do now?" Boredom is the worst thing in the world for a kid. They fight and argue and are just generally unhappy when they're bored. So I've been trying to think of some things to DO with them beyond school and baking and the usual chores. I think this book will help a lot, weird as it seems. It has activities and crafts and foods for every "holiday" in the book! Today we examined our fingerprints by smearing pencil lead on our fingers, then transfering it over to Scotch tape and putting it onto a piece of paper. Then the kids had to piece a homemade puzzle together and tape it in place so Katie could read where to find a special treat I'd hidden: "Under the couch." Then the book said to give each other "face lifts" using the tape. Here are a couple of pictures.



Saturday is bath and curler day - so Katie can be pretty for Sunday services, in case you're wondering about her total appearance. The pictures really don't to justice to how they really looked. Here's a close-up of Joe that's a little better.

I should've taken pictures of them after we ripped the tape off of them so you could've seen them all red and spotchy with tear streaks running down their cheeks. Who's idea was this again?! I bet the lady who wrote that book as been sued by now.

Let's see... What else is new around here? Not much. There are still 5 gallon buckets of paint sitting around in my office, waiting for a cool day. "Cool" being defined as any day not reaching 95 degrees. UGH. I was not cut out for weather like this. And it's only May. I may create a new trend of hibernating in the summertime.

Sam & Tammy have come over a few times to play games this week, so that's been fun. Except that Sam ALWAYS WINS. His winning streak is uncanny. It's almost as eerie as my mother's ability to continuously win games that she doesn't even understand. Of course, Sam is SOOOOOOOO S-L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-W that Tammy and I get distracted doing other things while we're waiting for him to take his turn and he probably has all the liberty in the world to CHEAT because we've either been lulled to sleep by boredom or we're preoccupied with other things. That's my conclusion. Of course, the only other possibility is that I'm just a LOSER, but I prefer to think that my Mom and Sam are just plain lucky. Yeah, that sits much better with me. :-)

Speaking of Sam & Tammy, here's a picture of them! Tammy had my cousin Stacey trim her hair a few weeks ago and Stacey decided to straighten it, too, just for fun. I made a special trip to their house just to see it! (Is that kind of like going to the circus to see a bearded lady?! You know -- a freak show???) Sam LOVED it. Tammy was anxious to wash it and get it back to normal. Tammy "Lewis" Kaufman with straight hair... too weird!

Okay, that's it from my little corner of the world. I just put the kids down for a nap and I think I may go join them. ~aaaahhh~ Makes me feel better just thinking about it!

~Becki~

I'll never understand why men enjoy cooking out on the grill. It's 110 degrees out there, you're dripping sweat, and your hand ends up medium well from hovering over the flames trying to season your meat. D-U-M, dumb. I cooked chicken out there last night. James usually does the grilling around here and I now have a new appreciation for that. Due to my lack of practice, our dinner was a little overcooked. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear, however, that we were able to crack open the hard black shell and find a few tender morsels of chicken near the center of each piece. One thing is settled: James is the outdoors cook around here.

Tonight we opted to go out for dinner. Much better choice. Why, you may ask, don't I just cook something in the house? I'll tell you. It's the plummer's fault. We've been waiting on him since last Thursday to show up and re-route the pipes under the kitchen sink so that the new sink and RO unit can be installed. He was supposed to do that on Friday, on Saturday, and again today. Never showed up, never called. ~sigh~ And to think, this is the GOOD plummer in town. Back to our cooking dilemma, the reason I'm unable to cook is because I unloaded EVERYTHING from under the sink last Thursday (in anticipation of the plummer's visit) and loaded it all onto the stovetop. I've moved it from time to time to use a burner, but it's the place where it's the most out of the way, so it stays put. Besides that, I've got a huge cast iron sink in the middle of my kitchen floor, still in the box, and a giant box containing the RO unit sitting on my table. Every time I need to do anything in the kitchen I have to either climb over or wrestle and grunt and groan trying to shove the sink out of my way. It's a losing battle, so I decided to quit cooking until these things are resolved. (Besides all of that, who wants to cook and heat up your house when you're already sweatin' like pigs and trying to not run up a record high electric bill with the air conditioner?!) When I call the plummer tomorrow I may have to threaten to call "the bad plummer" if he doesn't show up soon. Michael has always been SO GOOD to us before -- this is SOOOOO not like him. Still, it's better than if we DID call the bad plummer, we know that much!

Hhmmm. That's about it from around here. We worked so hard there for a week or two and perhaps we overdid it a bit because we've been so lethargic the past few days. Just can't find any motivation to get anything done. It's been nice, on the one hand, since not being tied up in any projects has allowed me to spend more time with the kid-o's. I walked with them so they could ride their bikes around the block yesterday. It's really too hot for that kind of thing, but they've got to get out of the house sometimes anyway.

Joe has been playing with his handcuffs NON-STOP and is driving everybody nuts. You can only be cuffed and taken to jail so many times before it grows wearisome. Sam has been toting around a bag with marbles in it for days now. They have, for the time, taken the place of the plastic snakes, lizards and frogs he usually keeps with them -- although he still wants to sleep with the critters at night since I won't allow him to take the marbles to bed. Katie spends her days hauling a PILE of her favorite things to whatever room she decides to land in. She's such a hoarder. She's reading SO good now and I let her read a sentence now and then when I'm reading Swiss Family Robinson to the three of them. We're on chapter 6 or 7 and the kids are LOVING it. It's got a lot more action and adventure than Charlotte's Web (we finished that one last week) and Joe is LOVING all of the hunting and skinning and fishing and such.

Okay, I'm rambling. I'm going to try to MAKE myself go do something productive, even though I feel like saying, "Nah -- another day. I think I'll just go read for a while." ~sigh~ Wonder which side of me is actually going to win this battle: the diligent, or the lazy??? Tune in tomorrow for the not-so-thrilling conclusion...

~Becki~

A million thanks to Kasey who deftly walked me through the complicated maze of template altering maneuvers that, at long last, has given me something NEW to look at. ~Aaaaahhh~ How nice. Really, the gray is a bit drab for my taste, but I just couldn't pass up the argyle. :-)

Nothing new to write about -- if there is, I shouldn't take time to do it right now anyway. I've wasted far too much time working on this BLOG over the past few days and I really ought to get some housework done. My husband will be so thankful to Kasey for helping me to accomplish in a manner of minutes what I would've wasted countless hours on by myself. (Pitiful, I know.) The kids just went down for a nap, so laundry and ironing -- here I come!

Later!
~Bec~

Okay, people. I need help and somebody out there can give it to me. I tried for 8 hours today (maybe a bit of a stretch) to get a really great template on my blog, but to no avail. How do you people get the fun ones on your blogs??? I got really close once, but I just can't MAKE IT WORK! What am I doing wrong?!? And where do you find a good selection of fun templates? I've been to dozens of sites (Blog Skins and the like), but I know there are more out there somewhere. Who's hiding them??? And what about fonts? How can I get some better fonts on my blog? Somebody HELP ME!!!

Not much going on around here today, so this will be a short post. Everybody cheer!!! YEAH! A short post from Becki!!! Who woulda' thunk it possible?!

Gotta round up some supplies for Sunday School in the morning, then go make sure everything is in order throughout the house. (We have Sunday services here.) So, you're all off the hook! This post is officially OVER! Hit the showers and go home!

Later,
~Bec~

Sounds strange, no? Well, strange or not, that's just what we've been having. Sam & Tammy rode with us to Sister Ellen's funeral yesterday. James and Sam officiated the service and they both did such a good job. It was a really good time in the Lord and I feel like it was a comfort and blessing to the family.

Afterwards, we drove the 40 miles to Lubbock just to dink around and see what we could see. We actually ended up seeing a whole lot more than we needed to see since Brother Sam can't read a map and James can't follow directions. No matter, we were in no hurry. We finally found a Fuddrucker's to eat lunch at -- we sat in the Beatles booth. Joe loved it 'cause all the pictures of guitars hanging all around us. :-)

After lunch we went to Staples to check out the clearance section (it's as necessary to James' survival as eating and sleeping), then to the mall. It was HUGE and probably the nicest one I'd ever been in. But no Christopher & Banks! What a gyp. Anyway, we just walked the mall for an hour or two. We had SUCH a good time together and it was a nice, relaxing day with no pressure, no chores, no schedule... ~big sigh~ I think we all needed it! Things have been so busy and hectic, it was great to have a day off.

Today was filled with lots of little accomplishments, but nothing BIG. A little cleaning, a little laundry, bathing the kids, and that's about it. We had a good prayer meeting tonight, then Sam & Tammy stayed and played games. James even played with us! WOW! He usually heads to his office when we whip out the games, but he actually suggested the game tonight. WEIRD. I wonder if he's feeling okay...

We've got Michael coming again tomorrow (he's our plummer) to install the new sink and RO unit. James finally caved in and bought the RO unit because the city of Andrews sent out a letter recently telling us that our water is full of flouride and arsenic (no, REALLY) and it's going to totally rot our kids teeth out and such. They've only been drinking it for THREE YEARS NOW. Oh well, the Bible says if we drink any deadly think it won't HARM us, right?! Not only won't kill us, but even "harm" us, so I'm banking on that promise! :-)

I received no response from Jimmy Williams today. Chicken. That's okay with me though. I'm enjoying the night off from poetry. It's so much more time consuming than regular writing. Anyway, I'd best get some sleep. G'night all!

~Becki~

P.S. -- Here are some pictures of the kids. I figure it's about time.

This picture was taken on Christmas day, I believe. Sam picked out those crazy shoes for her -- she still loves 'em. (We let the kids do little "extra" chores around the house at Christmas time so they can earn some money to buy each other gifts from the dollar store. It's so much fun to see what they pick for each other! I'm amazed at how much thought they put into it!)

As you can see, this is Cowboy Joe. A mighty fine looking cowboy, too, I might add! He and Sam wear their cowboy boots every day, without fail. And hats and holsters and vests... Lately Joe is enthralled with anything that "really" shoots: a gun that shoots balls, anything rubber-band-like that can work as a sling shot, pretending that a hanger is a bow and using whatever he can find for arrows. And here's Sambo having a conversation with one of the fish he caught while Mom and Dad were here last month. The other kids seem easier to describe than Sam. He's such a strange combination. I don't know how one kid can be SO bad and SO funny and SO ornery and SO affectionate and SO mean and SO smart and SO mischevious and SO loving... He's a mess!

Here you go, Ray. SUPER LARGE FONT for your aging eyes. Better?

I'm happy to announce there has been little to no painting going on around here this week! That's the good news. The bad news is that since we haven't gotten it done yet, that means it's still out there waiting for us. ~sigh~ Just can't win.

We had a nice service on Mother's Day and we moms actually got gifts we wanted to keep! You know how it usually goes. You open it up and say, "Oh, thank you!!! That's so nice!," while you're inwardly thinking, "What am I going to do with this thing?!" Tammy and her sister, Angie, put the program together and they gave us each a single red rose in a vase and a very pretty frame with a picture of either the mom's children, or the mom with her children -- all black and white. They were snapshots that Brother Sam had taken recently and they were all so neat! We loved 'em. For real!

We're loading the kids up then going to pick up Sam and Tammy at 6:00 tomorrow morning. Check that -- this morning. One of our members, Ellen Reese, from Portales, New Mexico passed away and we'll be attending the funeral at 10:00. Sister Ellen had been in horrible pain for quite some time and was anxious to go be with the Lord. We're thankful she's there now, and painfree for the first time in many, many years! God is good.

Well, Mom and Dad are at BTI right now. WITHOUT ME. Of all the nerve. It's much more difficult to miss it when you're talking to people who are there and you kind of, sort of "feel a part" in some small way. It makes it really tough to face reality and admit to yourself that NO, you're really NOT a part of it. You're in Texas, not Tennesse -- you're M ISSING THE WHOLE THING. ~sigh~ Maybe Mom's phone calls are really intended to be some kind of cruel torture instead of the "updates" she refers to them as.

I've got an early morning, so that's it for now. G'night!

~ Rebekah ~

P.S. -- Did I say short?

Now let me qualify that statement so as to not imply the falsehood that the painting is completed around here. The house itself is completed. The painting on the carport hasn't even begun yet (and there's probably more to paint there than on the house!), nor has the shed or James' office out back, or the fence, or the gates... But hey, I intend to rejoice in what I have accomplished: the HOUSE is PAINTED! I can't help but feel pathetic, though, knowing that we live in a BRICK HOME and there's mostly just trim work to paint, but it still seems to be taking me forever!!! It's the time consuming "detail" work (lots of straight line brush work to be done) that kills ya'. I worked 14 hours on Wednesday, then until time to get ready for church last night, then until about 1:00pm today and I'm finally THROUGH with the house. Wa-Hooo!!! And (I'm really hoping this is good news) James bought a paint sprayer that I HOPE is going to make the rest go much, much faster. I won't know until sometime next week, however -- and that's JUST FINE with me. I'm so ready to be a wife and a mom and a cook and a housekeeper and a laundress (is that a word?!) -- anything but a PAINTER for a while. I got the house all put back together this afternoon, except for the kitchen floor and the bathroom. (The house seems to self-destruct when I get involved in big remodeling projects and the like.) I intend to finish up in the kitchen and bathroom tomorrow, then get the kids' Sunday School ready for the next day, then maybe find some time to work on my QUILT. That would be wonderful!!! Something domestic! Seems like ages. I did make chicken parmesan for dinner tonight and it was delicious. I'm so sick of fast food. We've been living on it ever since I picked up the paint brush.

Hhmmm... I'm trying to think of what else is going on around here. It's been mostly just PAINT, PAINT, PAINT EVERYWHERE! That and trying to figure out how to make plans for the upcoming Presbytery Meeting. What a solemn and weighty thing this is! How desperately we need the help and direction of God right now! Pray, pray, and pray some more. And fast and then do it again. We've GOT to be sure and do things God's way and find His answers. I know He wants to give them to us.

Things in Texas have been rather uneventful since the rattlesnake incident. Unless you count Sammy clunking Katie in the head with a rock yesterday. (Not intentionally, believe it or not -- although that didn't rescue him from the severe spanking he got for throwing rocks.) It swelled up the size of a golf ball, bulging out of her forhead, within just a few seconds. We got ice on it right away and it went down lots. There's a tiny mark where it skinned her, and a larger area that's just now starting to turn blue. If it gets really cool I'll be sure to post a picture of the little freak. ;-) I remember when Libby and I used to compare bruises to see who had the biggest and best. Ah yes, the good ole' days!

Guess that's it from here. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about next time. And hopefully I'll be a little more cognizant as well. I feel like I've been in a fog all day. It's because that slave driver husband of mine has been working me so hard. :P The neighbor (a very old man) hollered over the fence at me yesterday, "Hey! Where can I find me a wife like you who'd do all the work?!" I said I didn't know -- we're pretty hard to come by. I thought about telling him that if the workload didn't slow down around here I might be available due to widowhood! Ha! Then the lawn guy pulled up after a while and said, "You'd better be careful or that husband of yours is going to hire you out full-time!" I told him I didn't have time to work for anybody else -- I was too busy around here! Naturally, James wasn't too appreciative of my actually taking the credit for my labors. Tee! Hee! In all fairness, James has been working pretty hard himself, just doing non-painting things. And he even helped paint yesterday -- did the whole garage door. Still, it was nice to get a little recognition!

Okay, that's really it. I'm going to bed. I am wiped out.

~One Sleepy Gal~

So there we were, driving home from Midland after a long day of bargain hunting. Kids asleep in the backseat, James and I almost asleep in the front seat... Suddenly James says, "What's that noise?" The van began to "feel" funny and he immediately realized what was going on: flat tire. By the time he got the van stopped there was nothing left of the rear right tire. I mean, it was there, but it was in loose strips, flapping around the rim.

I called Unlce Jerry, who lives about 5 miles from where the blow out occured. While we were waiting for him, James and I lowered the spare tire from under the van and did what we could to get started. Once my uncle arrived, I began to walk around the front of the van to go to the driver's side and put on the emergency brake. I got near the front right tire and heard a short vibrating sound and saw a flash of movement just ahead of me. A surge of energy shot through my previously lethargic body and I found myself in the van almost before I touched the ground. I looked toward the front of the van where I'd just been and YEP, sure 'nough: SNAKE. I told my uncle as camly as I could: "THERE'S A SNAAAAAAAAKE!" He studied it for a moment trying to figure out whether it was a rattler or some other variety I can't recall. It didn't take long to make that determination, as the thing went NUTS. It coiled up (and I do mean UP -- it was raised up a good foot off the ground) and rattled steadily for at least 5 minutes. Uncle Jerry said he'd never seen one stay so mad for so long with nobody messing with it. It was a prairie rattler, not a diamondback. This variety is much smaller, but my uncle said this one was BIG for its kind -- had 6 or 7 rattles. Anyway, the experience was a bit nerveracking, I assure you, but also SUCH a blessing. How, you may ask? (You may ask...?) James and I had each walked around that side of the van and back 2 or 3 times -- had to have been within three feet of that snake. We were on our hands and knees, our faces nearly pressed to the ground trying to look under the van as we lowered the spare tire -- not 5 or 6 feet away from it. There is NO other explanation in my mind except that GOD PROTECTED US from that snake as He did Daniel in the lions' den. And He loved us enough to let us discover the thing so we would KNOW what He'd kept us from. (Who knows the countless times God has spared each of us, and we never even knew we were in peril?!) God is sooooooo good to us!!! I'm so thankful for His hand of protection!

Before the flat tire/snake incident, I was planning on coming home and BLOGGING tonight about our triumphant shopping trip. But the later excitement eclipsed the earlier! Still, I'll mention it.

We went to town today to buy paint so I can get my lazy little self busy working on the house again. We decided to just dink around town for a while, just for the fun of it. We bumbled into SO many bargains and James just CAN'T pass them up. He bought 2 camcorders (can you imagine?!) and a DVD player/recorder for a grand total of $200. I added up the retail prices and they totalled $857. Sure, only a ninny pays retail, but they still add up to at least $500 or $600 -- as a low estimate. We tried the camcorders out when we got home tonight and picked the one we liked best. The other will be sold for a profit on eBay or sold for what we paid to my aunt and uncle, if they're interested. James also bought a $136 electronic cash register for $30 today. Why, you may ask? (You may ask...?) "It was such a great deal -- I just couldn't pass that up. Besides, maybe some day we'll have our own business and..." ~sigh~ What can you do?!

There were several other great bargains of the day, but none more exciting than the two really great denim skirts I found on clearance at Christopher & Banks! I'm soooooo excited! You just can't beat a good Christopher & Banks sale. There are few things better in all the world! Well, that might be a stretch...

And of all the things we brought home today, paint was not one of them. Long story, but it's not worth the telling.

So there you have it. A day in the life of the Hornes. West Texas is an adventure all it's own, as is being married to a man with an irresistible magnetism to "a good deal," whether it's something you really need or not. Not to fear though. He'll make a profit off of whatever he doesn't decide to keep. I've been through this enough to know that.

So until our next adventure (which, quite frankly, I'm hoping isn't quite as adventuresome as today was), I'll bid you all adieu. Adieu!!!

~Becki~

That's how much we made in our Church Bake Sale today! Wa-Hooooo! And to think, all week I've been having all of those unfriendly thoughts toward Tammy for roping me into this. Even last night I was thinking, "This is SO MUCH WORK!!! It can't possibly be worth it!" But today was so fast and easy and fun! And now we've got over $200 to help pay for Camp tuitions this summer. Praise God! And Tammy, I apologize for all of the negative thoughts I had but didn't tell you. I now appreciate your wonderful (not horrible) idea and I'll be quite ready to help next time. As long as it's not this month! :-)

That's about all the news from around here. We worked REALLY hard on the bake sale, as there were only three of us to do the baking. We had lots of great stuff and, thanks to Sue's donations of ribbons and bags, everything was packaged SO CUTE. I really think that helped the sales big time. That and the great names we had for everything! Tammy Sue's Banana Bread, Katie Rue's Blueberry Muffins, Mosey Joe's Magnificent Brownies, Granny Sue's Peanutbutter Fudge, Stacey Jayne's Chocolate Cupcakes, Betty's Best Snickerdoodle Cookies (Betty Crocker, that is, although we didn't specify on the tag!), Mammie's Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookies (don't ask who Mammie is -- it was James' idea), Mama Smith's Poppy Seed Bread (thanks for the recipe, Mom!), Aunt Becki's Perky Pineapple Punch (although it was too cold so we didn't even mix the punch up!), Uncle Sam's Rice Crispy Treats and WHO KNOWS what all else! It was fun -- and we had terrific business.

Brother Sam just e-mailed me some pictures from today! Here they are...

We couldn't find matching table cloths, but aside from that, everything was perfect -- so pretty!

Here we are!

As you can see, Sammy was a lot of help at the sale. Brother Sam happened to catch this moment on film for us. Sam was trying to climb the wall, but got stuck. We never would've known, except for a passerby who pointed out his predicament. It was at about that same moment when Sam realized he was IN a predicament and began voicing it quite loudly. Anyway, it was a great day, a great sale, and great fun!

That's it from here. There's lots to do to "recover" from the sale and then I've got a WMB service and Sunday School class to work on for tomorrow. Until next time...

~Becki~

I only wish I would've thought to take "before" pictures of this bathroom. It was SOOOOOOO GROSS. And now, WOW!!! Don'tcha love it?!

Great wall paper, hu?! And the towel hooks -- they're from Aunt Sue's store. Couldn't pass 'em up.

The towel racks are from Sue's store as well. Okay, so Aunt Sue and Mandie are equally responsible for my fantastic bathroom.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the yellow is that same split roller style of faux painting -- two different shades of yellow. I LOVE THIS ROOM! Did I mention that? It just makes me SO HAPPY. How could you walk into a bright, HAPPY room like this and not smile?! It's a great way to start or end a day, believe me! :-)

Okay! This is our bedroom. For those who visited my parents in Colorado, this may look familiar. I gladly stole most of this decor from then when they moved to Virginia. I love it. It's like a little Retreat -- makes you feel like you're still in the mountains!

In the corner is a bent wood rocker made by the Amish folks near where James grew up.

This is the bathroom attached to our bedroom. It's pretty tiny, so it's hard to get far enough away to get a decent picture!

This is Katie's room -- also the guest room. Most of this decor was stolen, as well, over several years -- from my Grandmother's guest room. It was always so homey and I love that my guest room kind of "feels" like hers!

Same room, different angle. Just one blue wall. The rest is faux painted with a double roller, two different colors. (Mom and I stole the color blend from my cousin, Stacey. She's the paint expert!)

Now, the boys' room! James tea dyed this road map of Texas, then burnt the edges. Cool, hu? (There's that same faux painting.)

And here are our two little cowboys (last summer) and the big one, Matt Dillon. (My kids love Gunsmoke. Makes me so happy!) We put "jail bars" in the windows and painted the bottom half of the room and the doors to look like wood planks. FUN! I love this room!!!

This is a portion of our living room. The wall paper was put in 15 years ago (or something like that) by Aunt Sue. It's perfect! We painted the blue underneath.

This is the den. All we had to do to this room was furnish it! Uncle Jerry did the cedar walls years ago. To the left of the couch, angled in the corner, is a brick fireplace. Uncle Jerry did that, too.

This is my Coke kitchen! The pictures look rather dark to me, but you get the point. There is now a gaping hole where that black dishwasher is -- tomorrow the new white one should be installed. :-)

The view from the other direction. That bargain hunter husband of mine paid $30 for ALL of the linolium, which just happened to be SO PERFECT for a Coca-Cola kitchen. This room used to be southwestern style -- baby blue and peach. What a change!

This is my office. It was a totally unfinished workshop when we moved in. Don'tcha love it?! It's quite...bold, I suppose! I didn't intend for the left wall to be dark gray... but I love it! And the faux painting makes you think of a storm at sea or something. Fun!

This is the other part to what used to be the workshop. It was originally James' office, but we've converted it into a play room for the kids. Katie sleeps in here when we have company so they can have her room.

This is James' office. It was the unfinished cinderblock shed in the backyard. I'm AMAZED at how handy he's become since we bought this place 3 years ago! He does such good work. And, as you can see, he's still collecting as much Church stuff as he can get his sticky fingers on!!! Still, it's toned down a lot from the original "Shrine" he had when I married him!

Does anybody really care to hear this? Probably not. I don't really care to say any of it, but I have nothing else to write about, so here goes.

My dear and considerate husband put his whip down and let me take the day off from painting on Monday. I decided I'd surprise him and actually do some painting today, although I had him convinced that none would be done this week due to other responsibilities. I went out this morning and within 20 minutes the sweat was dripping down my legs. EEEEWWW! Sorry to gross you out. It grossed me out. I decided I was DONE painting for the day. But there is good news! (It's about time, hu?!)

First of all, we've decided to forego the blue paint. After three different attemps (thank you all, by the way, for your advice -- I really do appreciate it. Unfortunately, having this paint re-tinted would not have helped. Believe me.), we finally decided that we just can't afford to buy 18 gallons, or even pints, of blue paint until we get it right. Since that decision has been made, I've begun to notice the houses around town. Of the ones with blue trim, about 20% of them are hideous. About 78% are "eh" (you know, not too bad -- not horrible, not wonderful), and the remaining 2% are just right. We, obviously, were not going to fall into that 2%. So we accepted defeat and moved on. We're going brown. Plain ole', un-fun brown. I'll post pictures once it's all done. I think it'll be nice, in spite of the DRAB color. (I HATE DRAB, but it's probably "safe.")

I rejoiced in my decision to quit painting for the day and I excitedly ran to the bedroom to get out of those nasty work clothes and put on something fresh and clean. ~Aaaahhh~ That's better. I was equally excited at the prospect of taking a nap since I had knocked off for the day. At this very moment, that wonderful husband of mine decided to rip out the old dishwasher and get things ready for the plummer who is scheduled to be here tomorrow night to fix our leaky faucet and the numerous leaks underneith the sink that we just discovered. "Hey, Bec? I need your help for a sec." Well, we all know how those "sec's" go, now don't we? Within 10 minutes I knew my plans for relaxing were out. I drug myself back to the bedroom to put those same nasty old clothes on again. ~sigh~ I'm so tired of being dirty all the time. One thing led to another and before we knew it we had more leaks than we did to start with and there was no possible way we could turn the water back on or else the whole kitchen would be swimming and we'd have no way to stop it. Long story short: Uncle Jerry came over and gave us a temporary fix until the plummer comes tomorrow. (Why we got into this project today, the day BEFORE the plummer is coming, is still a mystery to me. Why not wait 'til tomorrow so he can fix the original problems as well as the ones we've just created? Why do it all a day early and have the kitchen torn up all that extra time, you may ask? -- You may ask...? Because THAT'S THE WAY MEN DO THINGS.)

So now my house is a wreck inside and out. I have nothing to show you that I wouldn't be ashamed to show you. At least of our recent work. Hhmmm... maybe I should find some pictures of the things we've done in the house that have actually turned out good. There's an idea! Let's see what I can find...

Nevermind. My "high speed internet" is ve-e-e-e-e-e-e-ery slow tonight and I can't get the pictures to upload. I'll try again another day. Don't know when, as I've got a pretty busy week ahead of me, even without painting. Tomorrow is library day and I've GOT to take the kids since we haven't been in a few weeks. I've also GOT to get busy on my Sunday School lesson and my WMB service for this coming Sunday. I'll be doing lots of baking on Thursday and Friday and then Tammy and I will be working the church Bake Sale on Saturday. Our first time. :-0 Anyway, sorry this post is long, boring AND pictureless. I'll try to do better next time.

~Bec~

P.S. -- I would like to publicly praise that wonderful husband of mine for bringing me home a HUGE flat panel monitor (is that what it's called?) and a cordless (wireless? no strings attached?) keyboard and mouse. Wow! It's so fantastic!!! What a great guy. I never would have thought there was another man on earth with a nose for bargains like my Dad's. But I found one! -- I even have a less-than-half-price brand new dishwasher sitting in my kitchen right now! It's on the opposite side from where it belongs, but it's there! And if dear ole' Michael (yes, we're on a first-name basis with our plummer) gets us all fixed up tomorrow night it'll be right where it belongs 24 hourse from now! WOW!!! THANKS, JAMES!!! I love you soooooooo much! Even though you are quite the slave driver... :-)