Porch Therapy

Our front porch has been a big part of our lives since we moved back.

It offers a breathing place.

A peaceful place.

The perfect place to drink sweet tea and ponder.

Ponder work.

Mull over project ideas.

Listen to the wind blow.

Watch the grass and lemons grow.

Start new ideas.

Put the final touches on some old ones.

Watch the humming birds.

Listen to Beaux bark.

Something else thought it was a great place to hang out too.

Good Golly Miss Molly

I have a story but I would not do it justice by telling it myself.

I'm going to let Beaux and his friends narrate it.

First, let me divulge a little information.

Mr. Z and I give dogs 'voices' and personalities.

You guys may know a little about Beaux's.

Beaux: 2 year old dachshund. A city dog trying to make it in the country, who speaks with a high pitched voice and a lisp. And slightly flamboyant.

Oh, and he thinks Poochy is 'AWESTHOME'.

Poochy: 8 year old dachshund. A no-nonsense country dog who speaks with a gruff raspy voice. He is believed to be a war veteran and has little patience for sissies. He now has 'the sciatica' and that slows him down a little, but he is still as rough and tough as he ever was.

Poochy says things like: "Oh, ya know my sciatica's been actin' up. So they decided to take me to see ol' Bobby. (Bobby is the veterinarian) Ya know I don't like to ride, but I had to go. He gave me a shot in my hip and I'm able to get around a little better. Yeah, I hate to go see any doctor, but I guess Bobby is alright. But ya know, he says he's a vet, but I don't believe he ever fought in any war."

Molly: 2 year old basset hound. A southern belle who talks with a southern drawl. She also thinks highly of her curvatous body.  She also knows how to bat her big droopy eyes to get her way.

Her favorite movie is Gone with the Wind and her favorite TV character is Blanche Devereaux.

She has been known to say things like: "Ohhh, Sugar! It's been mighty haut taday. I just might have to cool off with a little sweet tea and a dip in tha pool."

[Maggie is a 3 year old dog my little brother found at the dump. All in all she is probably the best dog on the place, but I haven't come up with a voice for her yet. I'm working on it]

The Story

OK, you guysth.

Stho... we went walking over to Mawmaw Connie's today to go say hi and chasthe the chickensth.  When we got there she wasth trying to put sthome stuff on the back of all the other dogsth necksth. I was stho curious. But Mawmaw Connie, was like 'No, Beaux, you can't lick that, it's flea medicine". And I was like, 'OK, whatever. I'll just go chasthe the chickensth.' Then she called Molly and called Molly, but Molly was no where to be found. That's not unusual. She likes to 'loaf' as Mawmaw Connie says. Well, we hung out and visited for a while and I ate Poochy's food. He has the best food. Poochy is stho awesthome.

Anyway, it was about time to go home.  When we started down the road Poochy was looking for something. So, I started looking to. Then he stuck is nose in the culvert and Maggie did too. So of course I had to too. But what did I find? Molly. She was just chillin. I was like 'Come on, Molly' and she said 'Oh, you little slim jim, come help me out. I fear I'm about to swoon. I'm afraid I am stuck in this thing. It must have shrunk.'

Poochy said 'Ah come on, Molly. I've been in tighter trenches than that. Come on Beaux, I think I caught a scent'

Well, we had to tell Mawmaw Connie. She and Pawpaw Allen came out and this is what they found.

I tried to tell her to just back up and come out the other end, but she said 'These God given hips won't let me, Honey. I swear this thing must have shrunk'

Stho, Pawpaw Allen cranked up the big yellow tractor. I'm not sure what he was going to do, but he sthaid sthomething about a chain.

Then Mawmaw Connie said to get a Jack. The only Jack I know is Pawpaw Jack from the other family. Ya know, the one with the sthwimming pool. I'm not sure what he was going to do. Anyway, they got this red cranking thing that bent the edges of the culvert up. 

Then she was able to squeeze her way out.

Then she was gone.

She was going on and on about 'My heavens!'and 'Good Gracious Alive!'

She said something about if felt like she had been wearing sthpanx made of iron or sthomething like that.

Just to be sthafe I checked to make sure everything was ok back there.

Yes, this is what we do.

I apologize.

The Kitchen - After

The kitchen has been a total transformation from start to finish.

What I remember most about working on the kitchen initially was 'What have I done?'

Once I started taking the many layers of contact paper off the walls, part of me just wanted to get a hot glue gun and put it back.

Then, Spackle saved everything.

I don't think we will ever be done with the kitchen exactly.

Small changes, a little at a time.

Now, this is what the kitchen looks like.

Well, sort of, exactly at this moment the top of the table is cluttered with junk, there are dishes that need to be put up, a skillet with grease in it needs to be dumped and washed. But at just this moment I have my back to the kitchen, so the mess doesn't exist.

Did you see the hunky new refrigerator?

That was more of a necessary buy instead of a luxury purchase.

The weekend we were at the food show, our frig decided to give out.

But I'm secretly happy it did.

It has so much more room and came all nice and clean!

I really didn't want to put anything in it.

So, just a peek of how far the kitchen has come.

Contact paper removal.

Newly 'sticky tiled' counter top with painted cabinets and trim.

Re-painted cabinets and trim

Move in

New floor, new refrigerator, new shelves in the back corner (courtesy of Mr. Z)

We have some plans for the sink unit and the bare space above the stove.

Living Room After

So, I've come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I try, the pictures of the Little House will not look like it came off Miss Mustard Seed's blog.

Or The Lettered Cottage.
Or like it came out of Southern Living.

With that being said, we finally had enough of our dry-rotting linoleum.
So, we set out to find the same vinyl tiles we used in the bedrooms here and here.

Armstrong is the brand and you can only find them at Lowe's.
Apparently they are discontinuing that particular design.
We scowered the area and found a store that had enough.

Just a look of the journey...

 

Humble beginnings

Fresh painted walls and trim

Looking like our home...

With the new clean floors

Stinky Butt Buffy

Bare Butt Buffy Update

After a few days of sitting, Buffy started rolling some eggs out from under her.

I guess Momma was a little too ambitious about how many she could sit on.

Momma said that Buffy must have started counting and decided she didn't want to tend to 20 chirping bitties.

Also, that crazy hen decided to sit on eggs during the hottest part of the summer.

There is no reasoning with a chicken.

They are quite daft creatures.

So, after 3 weeks of sitting on the eggs with minimum food and water intake, all Buffy had to show for her efforts were 17 rotten eggs and a stench that was embedded on her previously bare butt.

Food Show? Why Yes.

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Louisiana Food Expo in New Orleans.

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Let's just say 'samples'.

Hello giant cow.

Bessy was our landmark.

Choot 'em?

A german chocolate brownie?

Yes.

We made a friend.  He gave us ice cream.

Hello, Handsome.

I've heard that there is a national food expo.

It is going on my bucket list.