Life with my sister

This time last year we began our journey back to God's country . It has been a fun filled , fast paced year. Randall started his job in March . I quit mine in May and became a desperate housewife until July . We sold our house in June and bought our new home in August. We remodeled the new house all fall and put in many hours at work . We celebrated in our home for Thanksgiving and at Christmastime with new friends and family . Here we are in this place , thanking God for his provision and many blessings . Last year if you would have told me I would be this happy , I would have cried bitter tears . Now, I catch myself crying tears of joy . Wow, how this ole world turns ! I look back at our "We have Moved" card and we look scared . I look at our Christmas card and we look tired and overwhelmed . I look at us now and we look comfortable and in our element . I will cherish this journey , always. *the red words link to previous posts from the past year. Abby

After 6 months of living here with no master bathroom, today I moved into it and claimed it as my own! When we moved here I would not step near the bathroom. If you will remember, we bought a foreclosure. The people trashed the house before the bank took over. We had to re haul the whole bathroom in order to make it liveable / useable . Randall has done all the work himself after work and on the weekends. It is finally completed and ready to use! It is a monumental day for us. Julie said it was blogworthy , so here I am writing about it. She, Mama and Molly knew the "wall" I had built up about the bathroom, so it is a HUGE deal that I have set up shop in it and am ready to decorate it a bit. Yay for this place becoming more of a home, room by room! Abby

This is what I came home from Hobby Lobby with this afternoon. Randall gave me a gift card as one of my Christmas gifts. This morning I decided the kitchen need a little spice now that the fall and Christmas decor has been removed. It was looking a bit sad. This is what I picked out. I went from section to section and pieced all this together, from one end of the store to the other. It took a small forever, but it was worth it. End result on the "fridge side" End result on the "sink side" I think it has just the right amount of spice now! Abby

" You take the good, you take the bad..." I got Facts of Life...YEA. She knew I loved Facts and got me the first 3 seasons. My beautiful mother-in-law wanted a picture of us. How sweet of her...how vain of us! Lindsey took these pictures in front of our house when she visited in November . We used a couple on our Christmas card this year. Molly has helped us so much on our house that we thought it was most fitting to give her a photo of us in front of the house. My father-in-law opening his new Craftsman drill. He needed a new drill because he had worked his to death. He is so funny about this tools. I wish you could all see his shed full of tools. It is amazing. The hubs with his new GPS....he has named her "Ruby Route". Thank you Ben & Molly. We loved our visit and our gifts. Abby

I hosted my annual cookie & ornament swap today in my new home with a new group of friends. It was great fun! I invited 18 and 9 came. I had several who could not make it due to other events. We managed well without them but hope to see them at the Swap in 2009! Tad (Newcomer friend), Mama Sue (family friend), Callie (Newcomer friend), Linda (Newcomer friend) Linda, Pam (I work with her hubby), Laura (my boss), Deania (work friend), Melissa (Newcomer friend) Cookie Gangster - he melted the chocolate for my cookies. Cookie Taste Tester - he ate the broken ones Abby

would bear hug a horrid toilet and drag it out of the house for their young. That is what Molly & Mama did for us on Saturday. (Molly is my mother-in-law, Rand's other mother) Our master bathroom was in much need of renovation. We don't use it, touch it, or spend more than 2 seconds in it. It was time to take ownership. We 3 women (mostly Molly) tore out carpet, a toilet and wallpaper in less than 2 hours....and it is a large bathroom. Rand cut beans all day and was most surprised when he got home. I was most impressed with how those 2 bear hugged that nasty toilet and carried it out the front door, into the garage. I only wish I had a picture of it. Now, we are ready to tackle new flooring, a toilet and paint. Hopefully they will come back! Abby

Isn't our Mama the cutest! (This is her in Montreal, last week on "Holiday") (Julie made the apron she is wearing in this picture. She was with us in spirit) Mama fried Rand his favorite meal tonight, in our new kitchen. Fried Pork Chops, fried potatoes, green beans, salad, brown & serve rolls and a yummy Carmel pumpkin pie. I loved having her cook in my kitchen. I love when she visits. She came to visit on Friday and is leaving in the morning. This was her first visit to our new home. We have had a busy, fast, fun and event-filled weekend. More on a Mama's love, tomorrow. Only a mother & mother-in-law who loves me BIG would do what they did on Saturday... Abby

Talking about toilets is most unromantic and a little off color, but I must. We are in renovation mode in both of our bathrooms. We were not replacing either toilet until we were ready to do the floor and the walls behind the toilet. Randall saw no need to keep uninstalling and reinstalling toilets. So, bleach became my friend....my good friend, while wearing a face mask and gloves up to my elbows. You see, this house was not lived in for about a year and the water had sat stagnant for all that time. I also believe they were left "unkept" when the previous owners vacated the house. You can only imagine my horror. Ms. Clean Jeans here, dealing with unruly commodes...ghastly! Well, the hall bathroom is near completion (Hallelujah! I will post pics later this week once it is all jazzed up) and we were able to put in a new toilet. (I never thought putting in a toilet would call for such a celebration). We realized we needed a bone colored toilet after we got the new toilet home. ...

I have tried, and tried, and tried to post a walking video tour of Abby's new house. I have tried to post it directly to blogger which is where we blog and I have even tried to post it to youtube, but my internet connection is just too slow. It gives up too soon. I'm truly sorry. I have every intention of figuring out a way to get it to you. The house is really pretty. It is on a cul-de-sac (a long one). It sits back off the road a bit and has trees in the yard that add to its charm. The dark green front door at this moment has a hideous gold doorknocker on it (but I'm sure it will soon be replaced with a lovely silver one with a cross on it.) When the door opens you can see through the foyer, into the kitchen and on into the den. The kitchen, I hear, is being painted a delightful yellow that will look lovely with the granite counter tops. The den has a brick fireplace done in the neatest design, and makes the room look very homey and comfy. To the left of the foyer is th...

God love my Rand! Well, the work has begun! The house is ours and we are working fast to make it a home. Randall and I were both so overwhelmed when we closed on Friday by all the work that needs to be done, that we didn't know where to begin. We worked until the wee hours of the morning on Saturday morning, we got a few hours of sleep, and then were back at the house by 7:00 Saturday morning and worked until it was time to go dress for the Red Dress Gala. We were so tired. She is the only one I know that can peel wallpaper with a smile! Sunday brought much help and hope. We had family come help us! We only have a few family members close by and we were beginning to wonder where they were....and Molly and Ben came through for us. Much love to you two for the help and the glimmer of hope you provided us yesterday! Coming with tools, help and a smile meant more to us than you will ev...