Hamilton's Party at the Condo on the lake

Don't they look like they are having a great time? They are!!

Mary Figenshaw, Joan Conroy, Carol Zwicky, and Pat Rusnak

Denise Van, Jim and Elizabeth Hanson's daughter, Anita Van Horn, Alice Hamilton and Butch

Jim Hanson (seated) Jayne Tome, Jack Lewis, Dwight Tome and Bill Figenshaw.

Judy Wills and my buddy Colleen

Captain John Hamilton, Todd Van Horn, Ed Lawson, Pat Rusnak and Bill F.

Our Former residence on Lake Panorama. 

619 Lake Panorama Drive or at least it used to be unless they changed the street addresses and they may have done so because of the 911 changes.

Butch enjoying the boat ride

A deer spotted us

View from south window of the condo

Joan, Anita and Jim Hanson

Jayne, Dwight and Todd Van Horn

Keith Conroy(back), Denise and Bill F.

Alice H. and Ed L.

Heirloom Seeds!

What a great site and I know many of you who would be interested in this idea.
http://rawforbeauty.com/blog/heirloom-seed-sources.html

Our Garage-A Work in Progress

Our Jefferson Pickers

A couple moved here from out west somewhere and they are "Pickers". They go around the the country side looking for rusty treasures. All people of this sort have vivid imaginations on the many possibilities to be done with their picks. I love em! Our local pickers have purchased a store right next to the Depot on the bike trail and yesterday I noticed they had "picked" an old  carnival. I didn't have my camera and when I returned this morning most of it was gone but I did get a few photos of things outside their store.

A Stranger Among Us

Hmmm...

What is going on at our house? Well as you can see I am being entertained by the great grands antics on facebook for one thing. Butch is working on making order in the garage. The garage was where everything landed that we did not know what to do with. So now the time has come to create order out of chaos and it is coming along although the garage is one place that never seems to stay orderly for very long. When it looks picture ready I will take one but we will have to catch it quick.
I am currently in a place where I am studying decor and placement etc. to see where I might wish to add this or  that. I do not want to rush this phase because I will be living with the result for decades to come perhaps.

We have a busy week coming up with Missouri kids coming this next weekend and preceding that we have an invitation to Lake Panorama, Cleavelands are stopping by for a visit and I am getting the carpet cleaned in the motorhome.

We have a new playground in our neighborhood and that news will please Miss Elise. She likes playgrounds and this new one looks like a real humdinger and only a block from us.

I did laundry today and cleaned house. It seemed effortless. I have put so much thought and planning into this place to make it easy to care for and I have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams! It seemed the right time to clean but really the truth be known it was not very dirty or at least it did not seem very dirty.

Bits and pieces: The printer is hooked up wireless and its new home is in the closet. It gets the message to print-I hit print and then walk in there to get the printed page. I am liking this. It will not move this fall. I am taking no chances with it. I have a friend in the park who pays me for Internet and this year I think we will strike a deal with her doing my printing for me and me providing Internet for her.
The smart TV is smart indeed. It is functional and also on our newest Internet network. I have hooked up to Amazon and Netflix. It is such a good feeling when all these things work as they should.

Mani Pedi's for the wee ones.

Miss P and Miss Elise getting their nails and toes done for P's birthday!!!

They are going to do what?? Miss P looks frightened and Elise looks shocked!

Hanging out with Curious George

Elise

Her Mama says: My smart girl matching lowercase and capital letters!

Baby Leo at 3 months

He looks as though he is trying to put the blanket on the bear.

He looks like his daddy in this one.

Jewelry Cleaner

NEVER BUY JEWELRY CLEANER AGAIN!

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 tablespoon dish detergent

1 cup water

1 piece aluminum foil

Directions:

1. Heat water in the microwave for 1 or 2 minutes.

2. Cut a piece of aluminum foil that roughly covers the bottom of a small bowl (like a cereal bowl).

3. Pour hot water into bowl. Place salt, soda, and dishwashing liquid into bowl. Place jewelry on top of foil and let

 it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Rinse jewelry in cool water and dry jewelry completely with soft cloth. Discard solution

 after use and make a new batch next time.

4. According to wire-sculpture.com, "this works well for gold-filled, brass, German (nickel) silver, and sterling 

silver. I have even cleaned jewelry with freshwater pearls, shell cameos and mother of pearl with no problem.".

Cream of the Crop Salad

1/2 cup chopped vegetables of your choice. I like to be heavy on the radishes. I also added celery, carrots, and onions. Dressing is 2T 3-cheese dressing and 2T  cottage cheese. Yum!

Pallet walls

I am trying to get Butch to go along with this idea for the internal walls of the garage. What a great idea for old pallets. And he just saw a bunch at the recycle place.

Craft Project

My friend Pat gave me a mirror. I loved the color and have spent much thought on what I might do with it. It had a couple of broken hooks on it so we took them off. Now the door knobs and the plates behind them and the hook in the middle were all gleaned from this house. So it has some personal history with the house.

These were also from the house as well as the plates behind them. I have yet to find where I want them installed but I am loving them.

New Internet is up and working

They came this afternoon and hooked us up. Much better speeds and no data limits. Woohoo! tomorrow I call Verizon and cut the strings. We will still have Verizon phone -just not Internet.
Tonight I plan to see if I can get the printer to work wireless. And we have a new SMART TV so we may have to see just how smart it is and if we can get it hooked into the Internet as well. And THEN I need to get some Kindle books downloaded and some pictures uploaded. Lots of fun ahead. Stay tuned...

Some decisions

I had stayed away from the Jefferson Telephone Company and their Internet service because of misconceptions. When we first came back I stopped in and talked to them at the front desk about their fees and was greatly disappointed. But today I decided to call them and see if I could compare their rates as an apples to apples deal after talking to a satellite company. I talked to the business office-not the receptionist. World of difference.
 For Internet only.

Jefferson Telephone Company                              Exceed Satellite
Hook up fee- $99 one time                                   $49.95 one time
No Contract                                                           2 year contract
No data usage limits                                               10 GB Data limit
Monthly fee-$57.95                                                $59.95
Vacation fee-Disconnect and reconnect                   $20 a month
is cheaper. ($35.00 on return)
There are other one time fees of
$15 for Netins connection and $79 for a
modem/router.

Being able to put it on vacation with only a $35 hook up cost when we return was the clincher. The unlimited data usage and no contract also were very appealing.
So when we get hooked up I will be happy to not have data usage concerns. It will be more like the connection we have in Texas.
I am happy to have this decision made.
If someone would like a Verizon MiFi apparatus let me know. We will not need it very soon.

Lots Done

It happened to be one of those days I accomplished many tasks. Laundry, cooking and cleaning. This house is really easy to clean! Even easier than the motorhome. I thought it had to be dirty as it had been some time since I had cleaned but as it turned out it was not that dirty.
I made a recipe today that Butch declared a keeper without any encouragement from me. A rare day indeed.
So here it is:
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2013/06/slow-cooker-spicy-brown-rice-sausage-peppers.html

It is very easy to put together. I closely followed the recipe as I usually do the first time. I will continue to on this one as I did not think it needed any tweaking. Oh and I found the Spike seasoning called for at our local Fareway so it must not be too hard to find.

And then...In a conversation with my granddaughter Amanda she said they would like to find a nice home for Eva their dog. Eva is a sweet dog but Amanda is finding her hands full with her two babies and knows she does not have the time for Eva that she deserves. Eva is about 5 years old and she looks much like the dog Sandy in the musical Annie. Here is her picture:

Sometimes I pass over pictures that I intend to get posted and then I go back and catch them later. Other times they get completely forgotten.  Coneflowers on the bike trail

"I'll sit beside you, Papa Butch."

Holding Baby Leo

"Supper ready?"

More Holiday Pics

Susan with her grandson Leo. 

4th of July feast at Brad and Amanda Teeters

Gary and Susan Brooker residence

Elise Sparkles

http://youtu.be/-uMawrOvRDg

Baby Leo Coos youtube

 http://youtu.be/hId5xs_WssI

No sound on the one I uploaded so I youtubed it.

Great time in Missouri

We had a great time helping the kids move. Yes, we really did! Of course they had done much of the preliminary work but a bunch was accomplished in 3 days and we still had plenty of time with grands and great grands.

This is a video of Leo the giant baby. He was born April 11th but has advanced beyond what he he should be doing for the short amount of time he has been here. Very sweet disposition on this little guy and the only time he raises a fuss is when his food is late. I spent much of my time holding him while we were in Missouri and enjoyed every bit of it.
And his sister Elise was busy enjoying the festivities of the holiday.

She apparently enjoys her bike helmet. More later...

Missouri here we come

Our Missouri kids are moving! And low and behold they are moving to Peculiar! This is where we always stay in the motorhome when we are in the area because it was closest to them. Now we will be even closer and we are loving this idea. The move will put them both closer to their jobs.
The big move day is today and we are going down to help.
I am also looking forward to seeing the giant baby Leo and his big sister Elise. Never a dull moment with her around and I am sure her brother will follow suit as soon as he is mobile.
If I do not post for awhile you will now know why but bear with me as I will be back...with pictures!

Busy Weekend

My lifelong friend Mickey came for the weekend and we had a great time visiting way past our bedtimes! She wanted to see our house and how it has come out. She approved of all we have done. On Saturday we had a J.I.G.s gathering at the Mexican restaurant here in Jefferson. Very, very good by the way. It is the best "up north" Mexican restaurant I have ever been in and it is right here in our own hometown. We had 13 attendees at J.I.G.s. Next month I am hosting it here and Keri, bless her heart sincerely, is catering it for me.
Best of both worlds! July 27th in case you are a J.I.G.s.

We have a new mattress for the motorhome now and Jason and Laura have agreed to take our old mattress for their guest room. So as I write we are waiting for Leo's truck so we can load it up and take it to them. The new mattress is in place and taking on air. I really like these mattresses!

So it has been a busy, productive and very fun weekend so far with more to come! 

Smooth as silk

AC guy (Greg) came yesterday and hooked up our tiny little AC unit and it is working like a charm. I am hoping they do not charge extra for homeowner hovering because Butch never left his side. Greg did not appear to care. We did take him out for lunch.

You may notice the name on the van is familiar. Butch's brother Bill had/has this business in Newton Iowa so we enjoyed some inside connection with the whole process. Thanks a bunch Bill Brooker for all your help with our tiny little house. You played a big part in getting it put together smoothly and we will always be grateful.

This tiny little AC unit is doing a  great job cooling our tiny little house. On this one we have to thank our friend, fellow square dancer and cribbage playing buddy Marv Smith. Marv bought this unit at an auction for one of his farm houses but found out it was too small so he stored it until we came along and needed it. Thank You, Marv Smith.

Isn't it funny how things work out? You can see how much smaller this unit is by the marks on the cement pad from the old unit. But it is the perfect size for us.

Today we have www.screenbuilders.com coming to talk to us about a screen room. Most likely not going to  happen this year. In the plan for next year...sure hope it is a drier season than this one has been. I am ready for some dry weather.

May be a perfect world!

The AC guy called and is coming today! Too soon to say it IS perfect but we are closer.
 I need some art work on the walls and a roman shade in the bedroom but we are so close to done we can nearly taste it. As many have said..."You will never be completely done." And that is very true. The projects I have in mind from here on are small by comparison. We do have a guy coming tomorrow for a quote on the screen room but we are thinking next summer for that project unless of course he comes up with the perfect plan and the perfect dollar amount. Hey, Miracles happen!

Neighbor kids project. My best guess is that it is a table.

Our new ANTENNA.

Kitchen

Dining/living room

Bed

Bath

and Beyond

Pieces are falling into place

Russ stopped by tonight and finished up the cabinet installation. After he left, Butch was in the bathroom and I noticed the one above the refrigerator was upside down. I am thinking,"Oh, Crap!" I want that fixed. I expected a big reaction from Butch but he said pretty much what I did. Well, we fixed it.
Yesterday Butch hooked up the main TV in the living room to Directv and bought an Antenna to hook up the one in the bedroom. I put a big A on Antenna...on purpose...It is a Big Antenna. I protested the size but it is now on the roof and we are pulling in 16 digital channels. More than enough. So I am not sweating the small stuff even if it is the biggest Antenna I have ever seen.
Now if we lived in a perfect world the AC guy would come tomorrow. May get some pictures tomorrow.

Weekend

Yesterday we putzed a bit. Butch played golf with Jason and then we drove to Boone and had lunch and a visit with Laura and Jason. Colleen had a lamp that she really liked and it fell over and broke. I told her it looked like a job for Jason so we picked up the lady lamp and entered her in the Jason's Handy Hospital for some intensive care. Jason called a bit ago and said the lady is fixed!
While we were in Boone we also bought our new TV's. You knew it had to happen. So Butch spent the better part of today working on getting the TV's set up and operational. I had obligated myself to hostess one of the garden's featured on the Jefferson Garden Club's annual Garden Walk. My time slot was 3:15 to 5:15. It went quickly as we had over 40 people take the tour.
Russ stopped by this morning and said he would be here tomorrow night to finish up our cupboards. Sure hope nothing puts a crimp in that plan.
As it happens I have about 10 pans in the fire. I sure hope I can get them all cooked up real soon.

Calm, quiet and HOT

We have to be in the motorhome if we want cool. The AC in the house is not working. We have a guy coming next week to fix it for us we hope. You will get the full story when we know the full story. It isn't unbearable in the house but it sure makes a difference when you can get the humidity out of the air.
We are in the phase where I set a chair somewhere, leave it there for a bit and see if it works for me. The one room I have never had clear in my mind planning is the living room so lots of experimenting is taking place.
Colleen gave me the perfect recliner yesterday.  It is perfectly per-portioned and has a small footprint. She also gave me a couple of  area rugs. Things are coming together nicely. We are still checking out auction dates and content but our needs are diminishing rapidly. Pictures will be coming soon.

RVing Tip of the Day

Use bicycle water bottle racks for rattle-free holders
by Greg Illes

I've been using bike bottle racks for a variety of purposes for several years now. They're cheap, solid, rattle-free, easy to install, and they fit a surprising number of different objects that you typically find in and around an RV. Also, once installed, they look tidy and neat whether empty or full.

Currently, I have a wasp spray can, a fire extinguisher, some bear spray, and yes, even a few water bottles, happily parked in these handy little racks.

For stuff that's taller than a standard water bottle, like the big wasp spray products and the small-size fire extinguishers, you'll need to cut off the top strut of the bottle rack. Since this projection is just to keep the bottle from bouncing out while riding the bike, it can usually be dispensed with.

Find a handy place to mount the rack, make sure you have room to insert and extract its contents, and then just use two short screws to fasten it to the wall or cabinet. (If you change your mind later on, those two small screw holes are easy to fill and make disappear.)

Once you start using this trick, you'll probably think of a surprising number of ideas. Why have a nighttime glass of water to knock over in the dark when you can have a secure bedside water bottle instead? Run out of cup holders up front? A couple of bottle racks will extend your ability to "stock" a variety of drinks while underway. Do you like to use solvent in your windshield washer, but hate carrying a giant bottle of the stuff? Put a bottle of concentrate in a behind-the-hood bottle rack, and it will always be there when you top off your reservoir.

Barb says: I do not have a usable cup holder on my side of the car or the Motorhome. I think I have found a solution. Now to get Butch to go along with the idea. Always the toughest part.

More Elise and Leo

Their Mama writes: Leo was fussing so Elise got a book and decided to read to him since I was cooking. He hushed down right away and started listening to her. I love the love between them, hope it will last!!

Low-Sugar and Whole Wheat Brownies with Walnuts

Low-Sugar and Whole Wheat Brownies with Walnuts (Grandma Willey's Brownie Recipe)

(Makes 12 large brownies; recipe adapted from Dot's Brownies, the favorite brownie recipe of Grandma Willey.)

Ingredients:
1 cup melted margarine (or use half margarine and half coconut oil; do not use margarine that has water as the first ingredient)
7 T cocoa powder
4 eggs, well beaten
2 cups of sugar, Splenda, or Stevia in the Raw (use Splenda or Stevia for South Beach Diet)
1/2 cup brown sugar (optional, but recommended if you're using Splenda or Stevia, or use another 1/2 cup sweetener)
1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup walnuts (hand broken)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Use a microwave to melt the margarine or margarine/coconut oil combination in a large bowl (big enough to hold all the ingredients.) Stir the cocoa powder into the melted margarine.

In a separate small bowl, beat the eggs well, then stir in 2 cups sugar, Splenda or Stevia in the Raw. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar (if using) and stir again.

Stir the egg mixture into the cocoa mixture. Then add the flour, salt, and vanilla and stir to combine. Use your fingers to break enough walnuts to make 1 cup, and then gently stir them into the batter.

Spray a glass baking dish with nonstick spray and then add the batter, pressing down so it's evenly flat. (I used a dish that was about 8" x 11".) Bake 30 minutes, then let the brownies cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before cutting.


www.KalynsKitchen.com.

These are on my want list.

Like Running a Race

This house and it's construction has been like running a race...always one more task or obstacle. But now as we near the end there is a winding down both physically and mentally. I am hoping for renewed vigor. Maybe today.
I have been fairly faithful about my morning walks with Colleen. We have had a few misses due to weather and we thought the mosquitoes might drive us off but we spray ourselves down with anti bug spray and so far it is working. There is lots of standing water for mosquito breeding grounds. So far it has not been the best weather for outdoor activities of any kind. All you can do is say "Maybe next Spring will be better." Summer is soon to start and it sure would be nice to see a change in this wet weather pattern.
Till next time ...and a more cheerful mood...

Snipped Elise and Leo

I just had to snip these pics of Elise and her baby brother Leo from Facebook. I love these pics! Elise is 3 and Leo a bit over 2 months old.

Taking it easy...

Taking it easy this weekend. My stiff neck is better. The answer was to keep it warm. I have had a problem for quite some time of being unable to have a cool breeze blowing directly on me and I think that was a large part of the problem. Probably an old lady thing. Getting more of those little irritations all the time.

We sure had a wonderful summer of weather last year but we are paying for it this year. Cool and wet with lots of bugs and mosquitoes. Of course many didn't like the drought last year. It's always something as Rosanne Roseannadanna used to say and if you know who that is you are showing your age.

Butch is in the motorhome watching the US Open golf tournament and as many movies as he can handle switching back and forth. Now you know why I am in the house fussing around on the computer.

Our next project is the garage. It caught all the stuff we did not know what to do with so it is now time to sort and create order from the chaos. But today is not the day. That is a chore you have to work up your nerve to tear into. Maybe tomorrow...