A Real Snow Storm

This what I saw out the front door this morning. 

An attempt to clear some snow. 

This is what I got done before the snowblower died. 

A good size limb down. 

More snow shoveling. My dad is coming down with his big blower to finish. 

It is still coming and so I left a corner to measure it when it is finally finished snowing. 

Bendick's Room Makeover

My project for the last month. I don't have any good before pictures. The walls were dark paneling, which shouldn't be too hard to imagine.

 And we now have blue! Valspar's Crispy Blue. I like it. And the trim paint is just white paint from Wal-Mart. Mom and Amy came few a few hours one afternoon, and helped paint the walls (You didn't think I did all that myself did you?).

 The wall behind the bookcase wasn't there originally. Clark built a stud wall and put shelving in there, and I now have a "walk-in pantry". I should post pictures of that too sometime. The bookcase itself is an antique lawyers bookcase. It used to have glass doors at some point in it's life. I looked online to see if I could find any, but didn't have success. It seems the bookcase lasts longer then the doors. I suppose if I wanted to, I could have someone that knows what they are doing build me some and restore the thing, but not sure if it's worth it. Anyway. The bookcase is from Clark's great-grandparents, Hershey, I think. I'm looking for curtains for the closet door. And I need to get a quart of paint and paint the closet interior and touch up a few spots on the walls.

Looking the other direction.

 Curtain close-up. Wal-Mart fabric and made them myself. It was easy. I considered tan walls after I bought the fabric, but I only have about three other rooms that are going to have tan walls, and I wanted some variety.

Wall words. I bought these at Bargain Bills, and painted them myself. I was quite pleased with how they turned out, as I am not very artistic. Benny "helped" paint the K. I just need to figure out how I want to hang them on the wall. I also want to get this picture for the room as well.

Watching the process of hanging curtains and blinds. Notice "Petie". Petie, or "Woof-woof" as Benny calls him, has become an important part of life in the last week. He eats, sleeps, goes to church and plays with Benny, and would take baths, wash dishes, and go shopping, if Mom would allow such things. I'm kind of glad in a way that Benny did attach to something. I'm hoping it will make overnights easier. Though then we run the risk of loosing Woof-woof, which would be sad.

All moved in! He slept just fine the first night, better then we did in fact.

Hooray!!

Now on to other things. Cleaning and SOS this week. Then shall I tackle my bedroom?!

A Few Pictures From Recent Life

Roses from my man for Valentines Day. Those roses made me happy!

Benny

Gwen and Benny from when Gabes were here recently for a visit. They played nicely together most of the time.

And my goofball again. And no, he's not this angelic all of the time. 

I was going to post pictures of Benny's room, but the pictures are still on the camera. I'll try again soon.

Reality vs The Clock

Hi,

 I want to introduce you to a man. Actually I am going to tell you about a typical day in his life.

5:00 am: The alarm rings and instantly his feet are on the floor.
5:05 am: He is awake and alert and sipping on his hot chocolate he has just made and he is reading his Bible.
6:00 am: Time to eat breakfast which was freshly made by his wonderful do all wife.
6:15 am: Go outside, start the car, and come back in to get ready for work.
6:30 am: Leave for work.
7:00 am: Arrive at work.
4:00 pm: Time go home after a successful day.
4:30 pm: Walk in the door to a happy wife, clean house, and well-behaved child.
4:45 pm: Time for around the house projects. Take out the trash, balance the checkbook, build shelves.
6:00 pm: Supper time.
6:30 pm Devotions
7:00 pm: The man takes a shower
7:15 pm: Family time. Singing, playing, and talking about the day.
9:00 pm: Bedtime
          
             Those of you who nodded your head in assent to this schedule may now go back to your puffy white cloud and may the the euphoric winds of perfection blow you sofltly on your way. Don't forget to play a few soft notes on your harp as you float slowly by. Oh, and please hurry because your shadow is blocking out the sun.
           To the rest of us who are still here, I used to think that way too. Otherwise I wouldn't be quite so hard on those folks. Anyway time introduce another factor.

          Hi, my name is Reality. I am going to tell you about a young man. He would tell you himself but he would sugar coat it to look better to those looking down from puffy white clouds. (By the way, I take great pleasure in tipping people off of puffy white clouds. It is what I do.)
          This young man got married and had the idea to live on one of those puffy white clouds. He would get up at 5:30 every morning and so on and so forth. Then I (Reality) showed up. I am going to tell you about a typical day in this young mans life.
        6:30 am The alarm on his phone rings. Hopefully it rings quietly, otherwise it will wake his wife and baby who were up half the night before. Due to the fact he was up to help out with the baby, he finds it very difficult to keep his eyes open and falls back to sleep till 7:15 am.
        7:15 am The young man finally opens his eyes, puts both feet on the floor and staggers out to the living room to find his Bible. Bible found, he will now sit blinking sleepily for 15 minutes.
        7:30 am He opens his Bible and reads a couple chapters through the fog, trying to make some sort of application and he does receive some nourishment. Although probably not enough. My name is Reality and I have to tell the truth.
        7:45 am Time to start the car and get ready to go.
        8:00 am The young man kisses his wife and heads off to work. He has 70 mi to drive and he needs to make a gas stop.
        9:45 am The young man is finally settled in to his job and will work till 5:30 pm or 6:00 pm.
        11:15 am There are some phone calls he needs to make, this takes him about 15 minutes to half hour.
        5:45 pm The young man is ready to go home. On the way home he has to make as grocery stop and he also hits a deer. These two incidents cost him about half hour.
        7:45 pm He arrives at home to a tired wife and grouchy baby.  He gives his wife a big hug and they eat supper.
        8:15 pm He heads off to the shower.
        8:45 pm Family devotions.
        9:00 pm Time to give baby a bath.
        9:30 pm: The young man watches the baby while mommy showers.
        10:00 pm: The baby is still going strong and won't settle till 10:30
        10:30 pm: The baby finally goes to sleep and the young man makes the decision to spend some time with the wife. They have ice cream and watch a movie.
        11:00 pm: Off to bed.
         2:00 am: The young man is awakened by his wife and is asked to fill the steamer. It will be 2:30 till he goes back to sleep.


         (My wife informs me I might be overplaying this, but it makes a point I guess.) Tell me, is there anyone out there who can identify with this? To those of you who are still able to keep the ideal schedule, I congratulate you, enjoy it while it lasts. After you are married, you won't ever find it again till you children are grown up and leaving home. To those of us who have been visited by Reality, lets put our chins up and live life the best we know how. I think the key is not in the keeping an exact schedule, but in what do we do with each new unique day that God gives us. A good day isn't determined by the clock, but by the opportunities and circumstances we find ourselves in. Did I read my Bible regardless of the clock? Did I take time to say good bye to my wife regardless of the clock? Did I take 15 minutes out of my day to share Jesus with a coworker? Did I see a sunset I wouldn't have normally seen because I came home a different hour than normal? I beginning to wonder if there isn't a reason that God choses to make each day different. It is OK to plan your day, but there is no guarantee that it will happen the way you planned. Get real, life isn't gonna play by your rules.

Thats all!!

P.S. The baby went to bed at 8:30 tonight. I rest my case.