22 Years Of Wedded Bliss

(note: I wrote this earlier & set it up to post on the 24th)

Today, Christmas Eve, Jim & I are off celebrating our 22nd anniversary at Greektown Casino & Hotel in Detroit & then we're going to the Detroit Lions vs. San Diego Chargers game. Finally.....after 22 years of wedded bliss, we are actually doing something together on our anniversary! :)

We reserved the hotel for Friday night instead of Saturday so we could be home with our kids on Christmas Eve after the game. On Christmas Day, we will wake up & watch our kids open their presents, go see our granddaughter & watch her open the presents we got for her, then come home & make dinner & afterwards, we're going to some friends to play cards. It's going to be a very LONG, but fun Christmas weekend :)

Wishing you all the best for this wonderful holiday season!
May you & your families have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,
Benita

What A WONDERFUL Night!

And this beautiful, little girl is why it was a WONDERFUL night! After not being able to see this gorgeous granddaughter of mine for over 2 years (Thanksgiving 2009 was the last time I got to see her), I couldn't have asked for a better early Christmas gift!

I am so thankful that God brought this little girl into my life!

Although she isn't very little anymore.....she has gotten SO tall! Definitely takes after her Daddy there!

I have been having dreams about this night for the past week & right now, I am on cloud 9 :)

And if everything goes as planned, I will hopefully be able to see her again on Christmas Day :) And this time, I will definitely make sure my memory card is in my camera (hence the fuzzy cellphone pictures :( )!!!

Blessings,
Benita

Miss You Mom!

Remembering my Mom, today & always!
12-28-32 ~ 12-7-09

And missing her more than ever!

6 Months

I can't believe that 6 months ago today, we closed on our new home! Wow, how time flies when you're having fun.....or should I say, doing repairs, painting, gardening, replacing fixtures, etc., etc., etc. The never-ending joys of home ownership! But every single day, I am thankful for owning this home......every single day! We looked for MONTHS until we found the perfect home for us.....and luckily, we had an amazing realtor that never gave up on us! She was there for us all the way & we've now become close friends. The above picture was taken the day we looked at the home & put our offer in on it. Notice where the for sale sign is.....we have since planted a Magnolia tree in it's place as a way to 'mark' where our sign was :)

And here is what our home sweet home looks like now (after a rainstorm). We've taken out the two bushes along the garage near the front sidewalk as well as the little pine bush, currently working on bringing the grass back to life (we've been told that the previous owners never watered it last year), added a bunch of angel figurines, hanging baskets, some rose bushes, fixed the fountain, installed a storm door, replaced 3 light fixtures (front porch & by the garage), resurfaced the blacktop driveway & put our rocking chairs on the front porch.....and that's just what we've done to the outside! The inside is a whole nother story (see previous post about all the painting we've been doing)! And in case you're wondering, yes, Jim & I do use the rocking chairs quite often in the evening, sitting out there relaxing, listening to the birds, frogs & crickets & just enjoying our new home :) I can honestly say that with the 3 homes we've owned in the last 20 years, this one is by far my favorite of the three! We both absolutely love our home & our neighborhood & realize just how blessed we are to be here! It truly is our Home Sweet Home! And I told Jim that he's going to have to bury me in the backyard cause I'm NOT moving again :)

Truly feeling blessed,
Benita

Buh-Bye Boring White Walls!

After living in our new home for the past 5 months, we finally added some color to it! I just couldn't take the white walls any longer.....the kitchen was white, the family room was white, the entryway was white.....everywhere you looked, white, white, WHITE! I felt like I was living in an apartment! But I gotta say, I am glad that the bank had the walls painted before we bought the house because from what we've heard, it was almost all blue.....navy blue! They also replaced all of the carpeting, which was also blue & there was wallpaper in the kitchen (see first before picture), which they removed, thank goodness! We had the kitchen painted first & here is what it looked like before (pictures were taken before we purchased the house):

And what it looks like now.....color is called Hazy Sage & I really like it, although now, we need new countertops cause the greyish/blue now looks too blue, but that's gonna be a while until we replace them:

Next was the 2 story entryway which took 2 days to get it all done along with the hallway upstairs & the entry area to the garage & laundry room. Here is the before of the entryway:

And the after.....this color is called Mushroom Bisque & I absolutely LOVE IT! Sometimes I just stand in the entryway & stare at it :) It matches really good with the carpet & my 2 Thomas Kinkade pictures:

You can see the hallway that leads out to the garage in this picture which I had painted the same color.

I was so scared when Woody (our friend that did all the painting for us & at a VERY reasonable price, I might add) did the part around the steps. He had a 2X12 board going from the steps to a ladder then an extension ladder on the board. Rose, his wife, and I had to leave & went garage sale shopping so we wouldn't have to watch! Luckily, Jim was here to help him out that day.

And lastly (for now), the family room. Here is the before (picture taken before we purchased the house):

And the after.....this color is called Fortune Cookie.....cute name, huh? :)

Woody just did this room yesterday & I truly love it! Before, the fireplace got almost lost in the white walls....now, it just pops out! And the color is almost an exact match to my curtains. Last night, Jim, Shawn & I went to the Tigers game, so we had to leave the room completely torn apart to let the paint dry, but when we got home, Shawn & I put everything back in order because I just couldn't go to bed until it was done. I have been looking all over for this ceiling fan as Rose & Woody have one exactly like it & I've always loved it, so one day, I was searching craigslist & stumbled upon it for.....$50.00! This fan retails for $250, so I'm very happy with that price :)

Next up.....the master bedroom, hopefully next week. This gives you a hint of what the color(s) will be :)

Until then, have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend & stay safe! Jim & I are heading up north for a one-night getaway.....he deserves it after all the hard work & long hours he's been working!

Benita

Happy Easter

Hope you have a wonderful & happy Easter!

Benita

I'm Still Here.....

.....are you? Although it's been over 3 months since I last blogged (where DOES time go???), I am still here & I am still reading all of my favorite blogs. The question is.....are any of my blog readers still here? I have been debating just deleting my blog since I don't tend to update it that much anymore. But then where would I write about what's going on in my life? Where would I go to vent (besides facebook)? Where would I share my thoughts, my dreams, my passions, my mistakes, etc., etc., etc. So here I am, blogging again. But are you still here reading?

I'll admit, I really have no excuses as to why I haven't blogged in so long......okay, well maybe one excuse.....I've been busy setting up my home.....still! We've been in the house almost 4 months now & I'm still not done doing everything I want to do. But then again, are we ever done??? I haven't even taken very many pictures of the inside yet because all of the walls are still white! Can you believe it.....me.....living with all white walls??? I can't! And now that I look around the house after hanging up all the pictures, curtains, valances, blinds, etc., I realize I have to take all that stuff back down to paint! ARGH! Anyone wanna help? Maybe I'll start with something small.....like the trim around the side garage door, or the front door.....something to put me in the mood to paint. Yeah, right.....it's not often I get moods like that :)

Anyway, here are a few pictures that I've taken recently of the exterior:

My first flowers of Spring :) It's exciting seeing what flowers I have coming up as I have no clue what the previous owners planted, so it's all going to be a surprise to me.

My front flower bed. The other day, Shawn & I redid all of the stones going around the bed & now we need to mulch it. Unfortunately, I found out that none of my outdoor lights are working so I'm either going to replace all of the batteries in them or just buy new lights. The problem is, replacing rechargeable solar batteries are almost as expensive as replacing the lights!

Another view of the flower bed. Today I picked up a pump & some hose to get the fountain working only to find out that it leaks around the bottom :( I'm hoping I can find something to repair it with. Plus there's a few pieces of stone that are broken off of it that I need to try to fix......or I may just have to replace the whole thing, but I love it. Not sure if you can tell, but it's an angel fountain & goes perfectly with my yard angels (most of which are currently on my porch until I figure out how I want to put them in the yard). And yes, the grass currently looks like crap! We're going to fertilize it & hope to try to revive it....wish us luck!

The one thing that is taking some getting used to is listening to all the crickets, frogs & other bugs at night. Right off to the side of our house is a pond/swamp area (not really sure what you would call it) & ever since Sunday, when the temps got into the 80's, they've been chirping away every night. I feel like I'm living in the country. It sounds really cool, except for when you're trying to sleep with the windows open. Like I said, I need to get used to it, I guess. I remember loving that sound when I was a teenager & used to sleep outside.....those where the days!

That's all I have for now.....hopefully I'll take some inside pictures soon & post them, white walls & all :) So stay tuned.....that is, if you're still with me.

Benita

Happy New Year 2011!

It's official......it's ours, ours, ours, ours, OURS!! Okay, we'll it's ours & the banks for the next 30 years ;) We closed on the house December 23rd & have been going NON STOP ever since! We rented a Uhaul truck for 5 days to move all the big stuff & it's slowly starting to become our home. It will probably take months until we have everything unpacked, but I don't care! We finally have a home, sweet home again :)

We have hit a few snags along the way.....it seems that after our inspection, they re-winterized the house, but we don't think it was done properly as we've had some problems with some water lines, etc. Right now, we have a leak in the master shower that we hope is just coming from the caulking. The house is only 9 years old & when we had it inspected, the inspector said it was in excellent shape. When we found out about the plumbing problems the day of our walk through (also our closing day), we almost didn't close! It was either close on the house, or be out our deposit, inspection & appraisal costs. Since the house was a foreclosure, we were buying it 'as is'. I just pray that we didn't buy the Money Pit (like the movie!).

On December 27th, Jim, Shawn & I took a much-needed break from moving & went to see Jeff Dunham in Saginaw. O-M-G!!! He was so hilarious! We laughed non-stop! It was exactly what the doctor ordered! If you ever have the chance to see him, I HIGHLY recommend it! You will NOT be disappointed! Trust me!

Last night, for New Year's Eve, we went to a friend's house & played cards, ate, drank, ate, played more cards & ate lots & lots of jello shots that I made. We had a blast & we were already told that next year, the party is at our house. I can't wait!

Once I get the house more organized, I'll be sure to take & post lots of pics of the inside.....stay tuned :)

I hope you have a fabulous 2011! So far, ours is off to a pretty good start.....let's just hope it stays that way!

Benita