My house....it's a very, very fine house..with...

Good Morning Company Girls!

I'm quite annoyed with myself because I just realized that I forgot to get Maya's Costa Rica pics put on my computer so I could show you some! Next Week For Sure! Some of the pics are quite good...she got better at photography as time went on....she has some amazing sunset pics ....they have incredible sunsets there in Costa Rica...in fact, the camp program has a definite activity each day...entitle 'sunset'...everyone gathers in one area, watches the sunset and sings praise choruses...neat eh? Maya had a wonderful time and would have loved to have stayed longer...she wasn't minding the temps in the high 70's, low 80's at all! It took her forever to get home though....it would seem that Houston was having some problems with ice....and since they don't get that very often they struggled with getting their planes off the ground...Maya's travel route was thru Houston..so, the the morning of departure they left camp at 5 a.m. to catch a 7:30am flight out of San Jose.....which meant of course they were up by 4:30am....when they got to the airport they found that their flight had been cancelled from Houston's standpoint...they sat at the airport all day and got on a 4 pm flight...landed in Houston just after 7pm.....then waited til 8am the following morning for their flight to Detroit! Maya found that the floor at Houston airport isn't really conducive to very much sleep! They landed in Detroit about 11am and then started the long drive home...she should have been in our area about 4:30pm for pick up but due to snow and highway conditions, didn't arrive til 7:30pm...then it took us a whole hour to get home from the pick up! All in all, she was travelling for 39 hours! ....and she still had a smile on her face...that's our Maya!

So, this week we're putting the finishing touches on Ben's room...it's taken forever...we moved the guy out into another room sometime in November....but hubby only has so many hours in the day..when you add in his day job, his teaching job and doing the churches 'books'....well, I think he's done pretty well at getting it all done....we just have to get Ben a new mattress and boxspring...he now has a double size bed instead of a twin...and he should be able to move back in! I'm in the middle of painting the logo for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team on one wall...Ben is a big fan and especially asked for it....it wont be of the same caliber as Rachels work but Ben likes it, so I guess that's all that matters!

We had a tiny bit of money left from our deck project, the deck that didn't happen.....quick recap...since we put on the additions on our house almost five years ago I've wanted to enlarge the deck..right now it's just 12' x 12' and when you put up the table and chairs..well, there isn't room for anything else...I wanted some sitting/lounging area...so last year out income tax refund was larger than usual and we set aside some of it to do just that...well, summer came and went and the job didn't get done (see last paragraph indicating hubby's busy timetable)..then in the fall...both vehicles needed new tires....8 tires are a ton of money...didn't know what to do...you have to be safe...so...I quickly weighed safety over lounging and safety won...there went the deck money! When we did Ben's room, which is in the basement, it, of course, has a concrete floor....I was going to paint it but the guy at Home Depot described this complicated procedure for 'pargeing' the floor before you paint...it sounded very intense..the guy must have seen the panic look in my eyes because he took me to the flooring area and showed me some vinyl flooring..you put it down similar to a laminate..and it's good for moist conditions...it does look really nice on Ben's floor..we opted for a non-wood look...kind of a dark grey with bits of blue in it....he loves it!

Well, in this great bedroom turnaround ...that we haven't explained to the kids yet....Emma's room...which is also in the basement....will become Emma's/guest room...we are moving a double size bed into her room (that is now in a smaller room..which is too small for when Jenn and Ryan and baby and doggie visit)....so, I said to hubby last weekend...'is there any money left in the deck account?'...he said 'a little'...I said, 'enough to put that vinyl flooring in Emma's/guest room?' he thought so...yea!...So yesterday, I purchased the required product and hopefully this Saturday hubby will get a good start on it! Once he gets started it really doesn't take a long time to get down......then...the great bedroom shuffle will begin! I am thrilled to my toes!!!! You see...we have a small bungalow, built about 60 years ago with three small bedrooms on the main floor.....as our family grew we worked on the basement unfinished space and put in 2 bedrooms and a 3 piece bath....then, when we put on the additions, we dug out the foundation also....under one addition we put another bedroom (the other is just a storage room)...so...that gives us three up and three down.....the bedrooms on the main floor are ours, Megan and Maya's.....well, unbeknownst to Megan...she will be moving to the new bedroom downstairs...aka Paul's/guest room, that Ben is using right now (it has the old double bed).....but that double bed will be going into Emma's room...which is a larger bedroom, to become the Emma's/guest bedroom...with me so far?....then Megan's room will become my quilting room!!!! Now do you see why I'm thrilled to my toes....yes!!! I haven't explained all this to the girls yet....it'll just start 50 million questions that I prefer to delay for as long as possible....

So, ya..that's what's going on at my house...how's things at yours?