hey there!

 So, hey there! We have made our move from San Angelo, TX up to Leavenworth, Kansas. Our favorite part of the trip was the Flint Hills in Kansas. All that treeless prairie is so pretty in an alien sort of way. It was so sad to see that all the rivers we crossed were empty. Pray for rain, folks.

 While we were waiting to close on our house we spent some time at Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. It was so very fun.

 On Friday we closed on our house and wasted no time with our renovation. The house we bought is a really big house that was built in 1981. It is filled with unique customizations and more wallpaper than you can possibly imagine. I think we have been very blessed to have been able to buy this house. It was owned by the same family for 30 years, they raised a passel of children in it. The husband recently passed away due to cancer, so the wife wanted to sell it and move to a smaller place. It is filled with such a loving vibe. I looked at about 30 housed the weekend I came up to Leavenworth and as soon as I walked inside the front door, I just knew this was going to be our home.

 Ripping down wall paper (which is much more difficult when it is pasted right up on the dry wall).

 Taking a couple breaks while Stu began ripping up carpet.

 Painting primer before some pretty paint in the kitchen

 My middle man helping with the sander. That wall paper was grafted to the dry wall, so we are crossing our fingers that a good sanding and 2 coats of Kilz primer will prevent the paint from bubbling off.

 Our first meal in the house was turkey sandwiches, and Gruet Champagne.As you can tell but the furniture we are camping in the house until our house hold goods can be delivered.

 Here is where it comes in handy to be short....makes tearing off wallpaper that was glued up over the kitchen cabinets a bit easier.

 Our back yard is MASSIVE. We have Walnut, Pecan, Ginkgo, Ash, Elm, Oak, and Dogwood trees (just to name the few I am able to identify.) I CAN'T wait to dig my hands into the soil and work on a garden. That will come after the walls are painted and the wood floor is down.

 I am the proud owner of a clothesline. You will only understand how excited I am about this if you lived with me in San Angelo. You see, I got a citation for my pitiful little clothesline I rigged up in front of my garage door. I only used it to take pictures of quilts. And occasionally Stu would hang his uniform out to dry.  Apparently clotheslines are hideously unsightly. Who knew?

This will be our dining room. Stu ripped out all the downstairs carpet (parlor, dining room and living room), and removed all the little staple things. We have removed the mirrors on the back wall since this picture was taken as well. We are moving and shaking! I can't wait to give this awesome house our flavor. For the time being we are replacing the carpet with a wonderful Maple hard wood floor and removing all the wall paper. The entire downstairs will be painted (by me). I picked up the pets from the kennel this afternoon and the cats and Stanley think the house is great too. Stanley is very happy we moved to Kansas. He thinks the grass is far superior to sniff around in that the cactus was in San Angelo.

Oh...on more thing. This post has taken hours because all of our new neighbors have come over to meet us (with wonderful goodies in their hands). All are retired Army or Air Force.  Most of the retired fellows are Vietnam Vets and completely fantastic. The man across the street reminds me so much of my father I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and squeeze him. But I didn't. His wife would think I was a crazy woman. The kids even have a couple friends 2 houses down. That was a surprise.

OK, it is time to inflate the air mattresses and tuck the kids in. I want to sit out on the back porch and look for deer and foxes.

I will show before "before" pictures of the sewing studio later...don't worry!

xo,
Tia