Pages From Our Life

I Have Been Tagged Again

2009-01-21T17:52:00.003-06:00

Nancy tagged me to share with you my top four in each of the categories listed:

Outstanding memories of 2008
1 ~ Our beautiful grandbabies--Claire and Jonah--turning one year old and the TWO parties we had for them!
2 ~ Going to Lakeland several times to visit with the grandbabies and their parents!
3 ~ Our first ever family vacation with all of our children and those precious grandbabies.
4 ~ A delightful and wonderful holiday season with our family and friends.

Favorite movies of 2008
1 ~ Eagle Eye
2 ~ The Brave One
3 ~ Mamma Mia
4 ~ Next

Favorite foods of 2008
1 ~ Slap Yo' Mama Chicken Dip
2 ~ Aussie Cheese Fries at Outback
3 ~ Barbecue, potato salad, etc. at Fat Boys
4 ~ Salads from Fanci Free

Favorite places of 2008
1 ~ our home, especially since the sunroom was completed (well--almost completed)
2 ~ the Smoky Mountains
3 ~ Lakeland, FL (because the grandbabies are there!)
4 ~ Prattville (I just love living in this town)

Events of 2008
1 ~ Claire and Jonah turning one
2 ~ the election of our first African-American president
3 ~ Me turning---well, I will not say how old! Let's just say OLD!!!!
4 ~ Allen and I celebrating 42 years of marriage!!

Things I liked in 2008
1 ~ having our sunroom built
2 ~ also, having my Christmas storage room built
3 ~ decorating the sunroom
4 ~ remodeling the foyer

Things I look forward to in 2009
1 ~ going to Lakeland to keep the grandbabies while Tony and Susan are out of town
2 ~ going to my nephew's wedding
3 ~ getting to vacation in and around Wilmington, NC with my two sisters
4 ~ going on another family vacation

So now, I tag YOU! I would love to know if you accept this tag by leaving me a comment so I can visit you and read yours!

Christmas Decorations At Our House

2008-12-24T19:30:00.008-06:00

I got a new camera and decided to go through the house and practice using it. So there are lots of pics---and I do mean LOTS! Hope it is not too boring.

Do you remember these gold ornaments with our names on them, Nancy? You made them and gave them to us many, many, many years ago when we came to a party at your house. I still love them.

2008-11-19T22:29:00.001-06:00

7 Things

2008-10-07T22:17:00.006-05:00

Haley did this on her blog and wanted others to do it, too. So here goes...

7 Things I Plan To Do Before I Die
1. Become a better Christian
2. Work on not letting my feelings get hurt so easily
3. Learn to let go of things that I cannot control
4. Learn that my way is not always the best way
5. Maybe go on a cruise
6. Maybe do a photography book on Prattville
7. Keep learning new things

7 Things I Do Now
1. Lots of painting ( in our new sunroom)
2. Clean other peoples' houses
3. Work at the day school
4. Keep the church Resource Room stocked and organized
5. Work on my blogs (though not a lot lately)
6. Try to keep my house clean
7. Count the time till I can see my grandbabies again

7 Things I Can't Do(ditto to a lot of your answers Haley )
1. I can't cut the grass cause I can never get the mower started!
2. I can't give a speech
3. Control my OCD all the time
4. Understand how people can be so hateful and rude and lie
5. Whistle
6. Sing -I love to sing and wish I could but unfortunately when I try .....
7. I can't have nice thick hair--oh how I wish I did.

7 Things That Attract Me To My Hubby
1.He has a strong christian faith
2.He is a very kind person
3.His patience
4.His love for me
5. His love for our children
6.His love for our grandchildren
7.His ability to forgive so easily

7 Things That I Say Most
1. I LOVE YOU!
2. Good morning--to so many parents and kids at day school
3. Be quiet; look where you are going ; and other things along these lines to kids at day school
4. It seems like it is always Monday
5. This house is a MESS!
6. I want all this renovation stuff to be over!
7. I am sooooooo tired

7 Celebrities That I Admire
Don't know that there are really any that I admire--they are just too worldly.

7 Favorite Foods
1. Hamburgers
2. Pizza
3. Chicken Spaghetti
4. A good salad and bread
5. Loaded baked potatoes
6. Cheesecake
7. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate--the darker, the better!

7 People I Want To Do This
All of you---send me your answers (lenuve@aol.com) or post them in your blog

We Are Getting Closer...

2008-09-25T22:02:00.002-05:00

We are getting closer to finishing the sunroom! All the crown molding, baseboards, and window trims are done. We have now got to paint them--not looking forward to that! Too much detail work. We also have to put at least one more coat of paint on the walls. And we have to paint the doors and attach the new hardware to the doors. Then we have to have the flooring installed. But like I said--we are getting closer! Yaaaaayyyyyy!

It took me FOREVER to decide on a fan. I looked for weeks until I finally decided on this one. And I am sooooo pleased with it. And I love the fact that we have all the recessed lighting and have them on dimmers.
I chose a mirrored door for the entrance into the living room. I really like how it looks. The door will probably be open into the living room most of the time and it will be nice to see mostly a mirror at those times instead of just a boring door!
The fan looks even nicer in person!
I thought this light fixture coordinated with the fan really good.
I also chose a mirrored door for here. (This door leads into the storage room.) I thought it would open up this small space more.Well, now you can see our progress thus far. Hopefully we will be able to get all this finished before too much longer. I am soooo ready to decorate these rooms and then to use them!

Paint!

2008-09-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

We now have the first coat of paint on the walls. The true color does not show well in these pics, but it gives you a general idea. The guys are out there right now putting up the crown molding. The trim is already up around the windows and doors. Pics of all this to follow soon.

I've Been Tagged

2008-08-31T22:43:00.002-05:00

I have been tagged by Haley. I am to come up with 6 random things about myself. Well here goes...

1. Haley said that she is basically shy. Well I am, too. Used to be incredibly shy, but have overcome the 'incredible' part. I put up a good front most of the time, but it is still a struggle.

2. I love to entertain---got it from my parents. They were always having people over for food and talk and games. Right now, I am not able to have people over because we are renovating and adding on to our house. It is such a mess! But when all this is over, I intend to get back into the entertaining full-force!

3. My hair started turning gray when I was just 16 years of age! I used to want to dye it, but my mother would not let me. Then when I got married, Allen did not want me to--he liked it! Now, I just cannot be bothered with dyeing it! I guess you could say that I am just used to it this way. My sisters both dye their hair and think I should, but not gonna do it!

4. I love photography. I have never had any lessons or taken any classes on it, but people think that I have a good eye for it. I know that I have lots of fun with it and would like to do more of it. And who knows, maybe one day I will do that photography book on Prattville like my dear friend Nancy says that I should.

5. Black is my absolutely favorite color. I love to decorate and I use lots of black in my decorating. I even spray paint lots of things black. It is amazing to me how much better a lot of things look when they are black. And I have influenced quite a few friends to spray paint some of their things black. It is also my favorite color for clothes, too.

6. I have lived in several places overseas. I have lived in Turkey--yes, Turkey! I have also lived in Germany two times. I have lived in several places in the states, too. All of the places had their own special qualities. I especially loved Germany and being able to travel to other countries while we lived there. But my favorite place of all to live is here in Prattville. In fact, I have lived here longer than I have lived anywhere else my entire life! It is definitly HOME.

Ok--so now I am supposed to tag 6 other people. Some of these have been tagged in the past, but I figure they can come up with 6 more random things about themselves. I tag the following:

1. Nancy

2. Jenny

3. Stephanie

4. Hannah

5. Julie

6. Jennifer

It's Really Starting To Take Shape

2008-08-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

The Work Continues...

2008-08-20T11:28:00.005-05:00

Chaos

2008-08-18T15:05:00.003-05:00

If anyone had told me just how messy, dirty and chaotic this would all be, I am not so sure that I would have begun all these renovations!! I keep telling myself that it is going to be worth it all when everything is done. But in the meantime...

The Framing Of The Sunroom

2008-08-14T17:40:00.002-05:00

Our House

2008-08-11T16:52:00.004-05:00

For a long time now, I have wanted us to add a sunroom onto our house. We got with a builder and starting discussing what I wanted. And at some point during our discussions, I told him that I wanted a large storage room so that I could have a place to store my FULLY DECORATED Christmas trees!!!! (I have several large ones that I put up each year and it is so time consuming to decorate them and then un-decorate them!) I have wanted a room like this for years!! And then we decided to add a small alcove off of the sunroom. And then I decided that I wanted a small front porch. And then I had to get a new front door. And then I decided to re-do the foyer! So this project has just grown and grown and grown! It is a fun time--but a stressful time, too! I know it will all be worth it in the end, but oh the mess, the 'strange' men wandering around, the noise, etc. etc. etc...

I thought I would post pics from time to time of the on-going process.

Next post: The framing begins...

Family

2008-08-01T11:22:00.001-05:00

Fourth of July

2008-07-18T18:36:00.008-05:00

We were at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina for the Fourth of July. Below are some of the pics that I took of the fireworks. It was so beautiful to see them mirrored in the lake.

We went to Biltmore again!

2008-07-15T22:01:00.014-05:00

We went to Biltmore again this year. I really love this place. I tried to take a bunch of different pics from the ones I took last year. Here are a 'few' of my faves.

The Aquarium in Gatlinburg

2008-07-02T15:04:00.001-05:00

On our family vacation, we went to the aquarium in Gatlinburg. These first few pics are some of my faves that I took of the jellies. They are simply fascinating to me!

Dollywood

2008-06-30T22:40:00.003-05:00

We had a family vacation this year. Matt, Katie, Allen and I met Tony, Susan, Claire and Jonah in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. We stayed in my uncle's condo and took day trips to various places. One of the places we went to was Dollywood. ( Tony, Susan and the babies did not go--they have been to Disney World so many times, so Dollywood was just not appealing to them. They all went on a train ride in Dillsboro. ) We had a good time there---especially Katie. She got to ride a bunch of rides, including a 'monster ' roller coaster.

Buena Vista

2008-06-25T09:25:00.008-05:00

Construction was begun in 1822 by a foreign man, who was not able to complete the work. It was purchased in 1844 and completed by Capt. William Montgomery. The molding and finishing materials for the house were shipped over from England via oceanliner. English artisans came and worked on putting up the medalions and friezes and cornices, which are more elaborately done in the present double parlor and the dining room. Another notable feature in the 24 ft. spiral staircase. It is made of maghogany base and spirals up to the 3rd floor.

Unfortunately, I was not able to go inside to take any pictures. But as you will see, I took quite a few pics of the outside. The back of the house

Hunt's Alley

2008-06-24T19:32:00.008-05:00

When I was downtown yesterday photographing old homes, I came across these very old houses. Hunt's Alley offers a trip back in time. History buffs Al Bock and Lenore Kirkpatrick purchased the two-acre tract about two years ago. It contained the last authentic shotgun-style houses in Prattville. The narrow, wood-framed homes were used by mill workers in the early 1900s.The four remaining buildings were renovated and will house businesses. A lady who is going to have her pottery business in one of the buildings just happened to be down there while I was taking pictures, and she asked me if I would like to go inside and see what it looked like. Prattville is getting a lot of new businesses and these are going to be some of the most unique.

Old homes in Prattville

2008-06-23T20:44:00.004-05:00

I went around Prattville today photographing various places. There were several old homes that I thought were very interesting. In a later post, I will have more pics of places that I photographed while I was out today.

The Tornado

2008-06-19T19:21:00.006-05:00

On February 18th of this year, a tornado came through Prattville. We heard the 'proverbial freight train' noise. By the time Allen and I got into our hallway and closed all the doors, it was over! We sustained a good deal of damage in our yard and to one of our cars, but we were more fortunate than a lot of our neighbors who lost everything. Thankfully, this huge tree fell AWAY from the house, as did another large one in the backyard.

Allen's car was heavily damaged--broken windows, shattered glass all over the interior, lots of damage to the outside of the car, and a tree limb blown into the spare tire!!!!
This flag and all the wood blew in from somewhere down the street!
The small urns did not survive--but at least the large ones did.
One of many helicopters that continued to fly over our area for days.
I thought this piece of metal looked so funny in the tree--almost like a bird.
As the sun was setting that night, we thanked God again for sparing our lives and for the relatively little damage we had to our property. The street right behind ours looked like bombs had gone off--it looked just like a war zone! Rebuilding is still going on in our town. It will take quite some time for things to get back to normal.

Father's Day

2008-06-15T22:53:00.003-05:00

Allen got a call early this morning from Tony wishing him a happy father's day. (He and Susan were about to leave for their week-long camp.) After church Matt, Katie, Allen and I all went out to eat at O'Charleys. We had a delicious meal together and even shared a couple of desserts. We were all stuffed when we left. We went to our house afterwards and I took these pics of Allen and Matt before they headed off to a gun show in Montgomery.

More pics from our trip to Biltmore

2008-06-12T21:28:00.008-05:00

Some Cold For A Change!!

2008-06-11T10:35:00.015-05:00

It has been so very hot here lately, so I thought I would post some pics that I took back in January of the 'seldom seen in Prattville SNOW' !!!!! It was so nice to look out our window that morning and see the pretty white stuff! Now, compared to the snow that we saw when we lived in Germany, it was rather sparse. But for this part of Alabama, it was so very wonderful. And right now, it is so nice to think of cold temps instead of all this heat!

Our visit to Gulfport, Mississippi

2008-06-08T14:20:00.010-05:00

This is the house I lived in as a teenager
with my parents and two younger sisters.
Allen and I were dating then. We recently
took a journey back to Gulfport to look
around and see how things had changed.

The house looked much the same, but the
yard had been landscaped.

Several streets over from our house was my
grandparents' house. It looked almost exactly
as I remembered it.

And this is the high school I graduated from.

It seems like a life-time ago when I walked
these halls.

And this is the little house that Allen and I
lived in after we married. We did not live
there very long, tho, because the Air Force
sent him overseas.

We have been on many journeys since living
in Gulfport---Turkey, Germany (twice),
South Carolina and Georgia. And here we are
over 40 years later, in Prattville, still enjoying
this journey we call life.

Memoir

2008-06-07T19:09:00.005-05:00

Katie ( http://mattandkatiegriffies.blogspot.com/ ) tagged me to write my 6-word memoir.

This idea came from the book by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book is a compilation that is based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his entire life in just six words.
His words? For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

My six words: A very interesting journey thus far

Have fun ladies and please leave another comment so we can go check it out. And, if you were not tagged and want to do it anyway that is great too. Just leave a comment and let us know so we'll check it out!

I tag:

1. Kim http://www.theisbells.blogspot.com/
2. Hannah http://rogersfamilyupdate.blogspot.com/
3. Julie http://knappsnaps.blogspot.com/
4. Jennifer http://crillcircus.blogspot.com/
5. Nancy http://johnhoodfamily.blogspot.com/

Homes~places to live, places to learn, places to love

2008-05-26T17:12:00.019-05:00

In October of last year, Beverly and I took a journey to Lakeland so that we could attend Tony and Susan's shower for the babies. On the way back home, we took a wrong turn and ended up going to Eufaula, Alabama. Sometimes, wrong turns can end up being very wonderful. We were able to see a lot of beautiful old houses. These are just a few of the pictures that I took. Hope you enjoy looking at them.

The Homes of Eufaula ~ Grand antebellum and victorian mansions built by 19th century planters and merchants still house family heirlooms, the precious symbols of a bygone era.

2007-12-20T02:19:00.009-06:00

The memories of Christmas laughter~

the beauty of the season~

the softness of the heart~

Our home, Christmas 2007

2007-07-11T00:36:00.003-05:00

"A man's home is his castle"
~English saying

a memorable trip to The Biltmore Mansion~