True Friends

True friends are hard to find, but we found out recently how "true" some of them are!  We went to dinner with Stan and Diane Blackett this week (they are down from Logan to get out of the cold).  In the course of our early dinner, they asked what we were doing for the rest of the evening.  “Stripping wallpaper” was my response, something I consider to be one of the messiest and time consuming jobs in the world!!!  They had just come from CostCo, but noted, “we’ll take our groceries home then come over to help!”  We protested but 45 minutes after we left them in the restaurant parking lot, our doorbell rang.  It was actually a pleasant evening of chit chat and scrapping.  When they left, the bedroom was nearly done!  Thanks to the Blacketts who really understand what friendship means!

Dominos Are Falling!!!

We had our hardwood floors refinished not long after coming home from Guyana . . . and then the dominos began to fall over!!! 

The floors looked so beautiful, we decided to replace our 20-year-old formica kitchen countertops with granite.  As it turns out, we were only happy with high-end and the most expensive granite from Italy.  It was considerably more than we had expected to pay, but it is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!  Of course, with new countertops we simply had to have a new refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher. . . and the dominos just kept falling over!  Next we decided we needed a new toaster oven, new faucets and cabinet pulls to match our new appliances. While looking for new carpeting for the entire house and to go with the countertops, Ed found a new easy chair he simply couldn’t live without.  Of course, now we need to replace our bathrooms and laundry room floors, strip the wallpaper in our bedrooms which will then require painting and decorating.  We will also need new bedspreads, towels, a patio, a hot tub . . .

I hope there is a treatment program for this addiction because we can’t seem to stop without some sort of intervention! 

Happy Birthday, Ed

It’s not often I am successful in pulling off a surprise birthday party, but I actually did it for Ed / Dad / Grandpa on New Years Day.  I had sent out a Smilebox invitation (if you haven’t tried Smilebox . . . run, don’t walk to your computer.  It’s such a great little program!!!) to all our friends, neighbors and family members, then needed a diversion to get him out of here on Tuesday morning so I could get ready.  The diversion came in the form of Rilee Welch who has been with Rick and Stacy during the Christmas holidays / school break, but needed to be driven back to Fillmore to meet up with her mother.  “Since Rick has helped us with so many of our little projects around the house, you’d be paying him back by driving Rilee up to Fillmore,” I reasoned with Ed.  He agreed.  He left at 7 a.m. for the 5 hour roundtrip, arriving back home just 5 minutes before the party was supposed to start.  It was a lovely day with visits from lots of friends and family . . . and, best of all, we got rid of most of our holiday goodies (the Must-Goes in our fridge)!  Thanks to Rick and Stacy for playing along and for all who came by to wish the “old man” a happy birthday.