Making Progress...

...on the Two Rivers House...We bought this place back in March, as a temporary home to tide us over until the VA House Sold...It was built in the 1880's and in dire need of updating, so Commander got right to work practically tearing the whole thing apart....he tore down most of the walls upstairs....reframed for a larger Master Bedroom and adding a Master Bath...We are finally starting to get it 'put back together"...all the walls are pretty much 'up' and we've plastered and painted most of them. We still have one bedroom and bathroom to redo( the ones we are using presently)

Here CDR is spraying on textured plaster.....WHAT A MESS!!!

CDR and his brother confer while figuring out how to install my new Hall light ..YAY!!
View of my newly painted stairwell, the color is Clam Bake..and irridescent ivoryish color...maybe now I'll finally get REAL stairs...and not just boards balanced on the frame...LOL ...check out the cool Archway CDR and his Brother placed at the bottom of the stairs!



One of the spare Bedrooms...freshly painted in Khaki..

Here we have two views of my newly painted Walk-in closet...this connects to the Master Bath....Painted in Wood Lily.

and finally the piece de resistance.... The Master Bedroom...freshly painted in Opal Ice On Walls with a Periwinklish Blue Ventian Plaster on the Ceiling.












This is the ceiling insert with the Venetian Plaster. CDR mixed a little white paint into it to give it a slightly 'cloudy" look. The pics don't show it, but this turned out pretty shiny...like a mirror finish, almost.

Upclose shot of the Ceiling insert and tray trim...

Oh ....and top of all this.....we are hoping to break ground on the NEW place early next week!!!!

mark. News! and a Special Offer!

It's been a while since I've done a mark. post, but just had to share this 24 hour special offer with you all. You have until 10:00am tomorrow to get a FREE Scandilash mascara!

You also can go to meetmark.com and see a sneak preview of Jordin Sparks new Video! Did you know Jordin Sparks was the FIRST mark. Rep ever?

Big Changes Coming!

So...it's been a few weeks and so much has happened....3 of our kids came up for a short visit! It was great to see them all. Drama Teen drove up with Genius Boy...and we flew in the Co-ed. The Recruit wasn't able to get the same week off , he actually has this week off but has chosen to head to his Grandparents in Mississippi, then he will come here for Christmas instead. Any way it was a great visit. We spent a few days up in Door County with the rest of CDR's family, camping. No melt downs this year, so that's a plus!! The girls left together last week for Virginia. We gave Co-ed a car so they drove back. Drama Teen starts a new semester at JMU next week, and Co-ed is presently on way back to Pensacola with two new puppies she picked up in NC. Genius Boy is still here but will probably be heading back early next week. He is spending the weekend in Appleton with the cousins. We'll see him this Sunday when we drive into Appleton for my Niece's daughters First Birthday.

Work on the Two Rivers House is coming along....we finally have all the walls up upstairs. And CDR has reworked the Electrical in the kitchen so walls are finally going up in there as well. There's hopefully not a whole lot more than needs to be done before we can finish...and finish we must because the biggest 'change' of all is that : WE BOUGHT LAND and will BUILDING OUR OWN HOME SOON!!!! Yay!!!

We've purchased 1.6 acres in a Golfing Community. We share a pond with two of our neighbors and there is another large Community Swimming Pond in the neighborhood. The lot next to ours is also for sale and we have a one year option to buy. We are considering it. As for the property we've bought. The Septic guy is going to be putting in our septic system soon and building should start soon after. We've purchased and recieved the houseplans (although we'll be doing the outside a bit different..some stone but no stucco..we'll be doing some Cedar shake and some regular siding instead)CDR's brother and sister will be helping. His brother is a house builder and his sister is an owner in a commercial contruction company. It is all VERY exciting!!

The End of the Day

After Dinner and the Dishes were done we decided to go for a 'short' walk....yeah....right.....

We ended up walking down to the lake. First we walk thru town.....

Some nice landscaping....These Kayaks used as planters are ALL over town.....

Here's another one in front of the Pick'n Save...

and another one.....

Ah ....finally the Beach...

Walking along the Coast of Lake Michigan....it's only about a 10 minute walk from home.

Someone must have had fun making this today. I couldn't resist a pic.

and...this little guy was waiting for us when we got home....

A Day in Two Rivers

Gosh, it's been a while , huh?

Lot's has been going on and I've had so many things I've been wanting to blog but not really had the motivation to actually sit down and blog it!...If I get the energy later I'll try to catch everything up. For today I figured I'll just post about my day.

I've been enjoying having a clothesline here in Two Rivers( they weren't allowed in my old Chesapeake Neighborhood) So today started with some Laundry. I haven't yet gotten one of those clothespin holder thingies that you hang on the line...so, for now, I just clip a bunch to the hem of my shirt......After hanging my laundry for the day, I needed to pick some raspberries before the birds get to them all.I managed to fill a small bowl...I planned to do something special with these later in day, but not before snacking on a few!..LOL

Then I thought I'd share a few pics of our garden here in Two Rivers. Our HUGE Crazy mega Tomato Plant. We also have a smaller cherry tomato plant that I forgot to take a pic of.These are the beets....we've been eating these for the last week or so. Off to the right you can see Lettuce(the lighter leaves there) . We've been eating it for weeks. CDR actually cleared it all out when he came home today because it was pretty much done. We're going to plant some more.These are the green beans...we should be getting some in soon.The Peas are just about ready...I think in another day or so I'll have some to harvest.

Green Pepper plants. We picked our first couple for dinner tonight. I'll be using them in a chicken dish.These are what's 'blooming' in the Garden these days....Here's what I did with those Raspberries I picked earlier. It's some kind of Raspberry Cookie Bars. While this was baking in the oven, I took my clothes off the line and decided to fold them outside on the patio table since it's such a beautiful day. While I folded CDR picked some beets for tonights dinner( and also cleared out that old lettuce I mentioned earlier)

Here are the beets. Washed and ready to be peeled.They turn my hands bright pink!I love the look of them sliced...all the colorful rings.And these will be used in a Chicken Dish I'm making tonight.Of course I did a few other things today as well. Made the bed, did some dishes, etc etc. I even read for a while this morning...and of course hung out online......LOL

IN a bit I'll start tonight's dinner and then I'll have dishes to do and a kitchen to clean. And who knows what CDR and I will do later tonight...maybe go for a drive, or just hang out together on the front porch.

Update: So here I am getting ready to start dinner. I made a modified version of this recipe.
Although I didn't have any Apricot Preserves, but I did have some Orange Pineapple Marmalade with Mint and Carrots that I used instead. I also didn't have any Broth or Sherry, so I used wine instead. It turned out really great. I served it with some leftover Jasmine Rice from a few nights ago...and the beets of course.
Oh, and I chose to cook it on the stove rather than microwave the whole thing. I cooked the chicken with the Green Peppers and heated the 'sauce' in a separate small pot. When it was all pretty much done I mixed the sauce in with the chicken and let it simmer for a few minutes more.

Dishes were washed right after Dinner.

And for tonights entertainment we didn't go for a drive or relax on the porch( well ok I 'tried' to relax on the porch...but was interrupted every two minutes by CDR yelling 'Marrrrge") In my spare time I often get to 'help" CDR with the house rennovations. I get to hold up wallboard, Hand him screws, help him carry plywood....etc etc. Tonight was no exception.

Shopping Trip!

So... yesterday I finally decided to venture into Green Bay....They have a Target and a Barnes & Noble....heaven!! It's a good 30 minute drive and due to contruction and detours I got lost and had to backtrack to find them.....Eventually I arrived at Barnes & Noble.....the selection was 'ok'...and I did manage to spend a bit there, but it was a little disappointing.....then on to Target ..took me a while to find it...and wow....TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT!! They hardly had anything interesting.....thier clothing racks were pretty sparse...I figured by now( it's been a good month since I was last at a Target) there'd be all kinds of new stuff...and that there'd be all kinds of good stuff on clearance.....not really...even in the housewares department I wasn't able to find much that appealed to me....and that's REALLY shocking!!

Looks like I'll have more luck doing online shopping out here....Thank God for Online Shopping!

I'll have to venture out some more...who knows maybe I'll find some other cool shops....or maybe Milwaukee or Appleton will have better shopping?

PS. I did find some Cute Sandals(on clearance)...and a cute Skirt/Dress thing(smocked top...can be worn as a strapless dress or a long skirt)