The Adventures of Valparaiso Gal

Scarecrow Festival

2018-10-04T08:43:00.002-07:00

Hello! Fall has Arrived!!! EEEEeeeeee!!

Every year, for the past 20 some years, the small town of Wanatah, Indiana, holds it's annual Scarecrow Festival. It's an easy going place of good food, friends and entertainment!

Jean and I brought our bikes, and rode up and down all the streets of Wanatah. I think we got about 1.2 miles in that evening! Lol, it wasn't far. We had fun admiring the décor though.

After bike riding, Jean and I browsed the vender booths. Sophie stayed home, but I found a boutique just right for her! The dog clothes were sooo cute!

The Nut Hut, has been a favorite place of mine from the beginning; roasted cinnamon pecans are the best ever! They did have some competition for me this year though, as I tried to purchase a cup of the best smelling soup ever, from another vender. The soup that looked like chicken broth, but smelled like heaven, wasn't for sale. In fact, it turned out to be a crock pot full of melted butter for dipping sweet corn in. Sigh.

The entertainment tent had an awesome singer and band prior to the Merchants' Give-away. Jerica Paliga is the singer. She will be famous soon! ;-)

THEN-- The Moment we have all been waiting for-- The Merchants' Giveaway!!! This is the only place I know where you can win a life time supply of aluminum foil!!! I know, cause I have won it, circa 2000.

This year, I won Blueberry Jam! The next morning I tried it on pancakes, and it is the best blueberry jam I have ever had!

Sylvester was chasing this spider outside! I think it is a wolf spider. One of many I have noticed around the yard!

Bike Riding

2018-09-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Folk's!

Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad

I made this salad after watching an episode of Pioneer Woman. I was skeptical at first, but curious as to how the combination of flavors, the sweet and savory, would compliment each other. The salad is an interesting mix. You can get the recipe by clicking the link above.

I brought the dish to Mathew and Tracee's engagement party! While I still prefer to eat tomatoes separately from watermelon, it certainly was a refreshing and unusual salad to try!

Let's talk about biking, shall we? I received an email the other day regarding the type of bike I ride, and why I no longer blog about running.

Well, the short and sweet answers to those questions are: I usually ride my leisure bike, and I don't blog about running, because I don't run.

I may change things up and ride a different bike, depending on the terrain, but I really love my basic Schwinn. It's one of the most comfortable bikes I have rode. Also, lucky for me, northern Indiana is basically flat, so I don't usually feel the need for a fancy speed bike.

I do miss running. I might get back into it, but if so, very carefully. I want to avoid injury as much as possible.

The other day, Jean and I biked to the Dunes National Lakeshore and back along the Kankakee trail.

It's was a nice and scenic ride.

With the reward of watching a Lake Michigan sunset!

We met up with Nancy and her friend at the beach,

The weather was starting to cool down from the heat of the day. Plus, it's always cooler at the lake.

I iced my legs and feet in the freezing cold, Lake Michigan water. Refreshing!

As you can see from the Chicago skyline, it was a fairly clear evening sky.

So, the above pic may not be a very good shot, but I have been in several close encounters with spiders lately. Therefore, I've decided, between now and Halloween, I'm going to start photographing these creepy creatures. Hopefully, I'll get a little better at it in future posts.

Biking back to the house! Weeeeeeeeeee! Ya gotta love a smooth, freshly paved road! :-)

Mathew and Tracee's Engagement Party

2018-09-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hey! Who lost a glass slipper?

I wonder if it would fit Sylvester! :-)

This past Saturday, my cousin Mathew, celebrated his engagement to Tracee at a park in Valparaiso.

They had a ton of food!

The weather was warm, with a nice breeze in the air.

I thought the Cinderella theme was awesome!

For entrainment, we played corn hole.

Gladys and Jean, verses, Roni and I. We won!

The kids wanted me to keep the gift we gave to them.

It's a special cake pan set, to make filled cakes. The cakes pictured on the box do look good!

Mathew and Uncle Bobby, are two of my favorite guys!

I watched Roni get crushed by a tree! Well, it could have happened, for real!

Roni is scared of frogs, turtles and fish.

I think the walk we went on must have been like her version of a spooky trail, cause those animals were at every turn! Oh the thrills!

Ogden gardens may very well be the most beautiful park in Valparaiso.

As we searched for Jean's baby tree, Jean found a rock.

We re-hid it.

I think we found her baby tree, but it was hard to tell, as the park has changed a little over the last 20 some years.

Awww, the happy couple!

Best wishes to Mathew and Tracee! I hope you two have lots of fun planning your big event!

Apple Festival at Chellburg Farm

2018-09-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folk's!

I am happy that we are well into September! I don't know about ya'all, but I can hardly wait for fall-like weather!

This past Sunday afternoon I was lucky enough to attend the Apple Festival, held at Chellburg Farm, in northern Indiana.

The weather was HOT and HUMID! Since the plan was to head to the festival right after church, weather friendly, picnic fixins were packed.

Of course, there was plenty of apple eating too! I tried apple tea for the first time; good stuff!

Troy got to try a triboshay! The catapult is launched with a pull of a string.

Fling! The apple flies through the air! If the calculations and aim are correct, it might just hit the bullseye!

Troy made sure his aim was on point when trying the larger catapult!

This machine fires when the lever is struck hard with the bat! (Where were these machines when I needed the Grovertown house down?) :-)

This festival was rather unique, in that, it wasn't crowded. It was quite spread out over the farm. It made for some nice and easy summer trail walks.

Each trail led to a new adventure! Visitors could try walking on stilts, olden day games and crafts.

The tractor pulled wagon ride was one of my favorite activities! Who doesn't like the rhythmic sound of a tractor chugging along?? Plus, our driver took us to the edge of the spearmint field during harvest and it was a refreshingly, great, experience! Side note: Having a festival during spearmint harvest was perfect for keeping the bugs and bees from being a nuisance!

The Chellburg family was one of Indiana's first wealthy settlers. The original house, currently undergoing tuckpointing, remains very well in tact, in the original location.

Every so often, while attending grade school, I got to take a field trip the Chellburg Farm. It hasn't changed much.

The front of the house faces the Little Calumet River. That was the popular way of transport back in the day, so I was told.

I could definitely see myself living here!

I enjoyed all the little, olden day, details that are rarities to get to see nowadays.

Oh my goodness, the stoves, the windmill, and the animals-- how charming!

Several years ago, I used to have a farm. I raised these feather-footed type chickens, known as silkies. They were the best little mama hens ever!

All my animals had individual pet names, of course. However, the group of chickens, was collectively known as, the Plop-and-Drops. They refused to go into the coop, come dusk. Instead they would plop and drop down wherever they happened to be, to rest for the night. I would have to go out, and tuck them in there coop every evening, just to be sure they stayed safe and warm.

The old barn is still looking good!

If you look really, really, close, you can see Charlotte's web in the upper left hand corner of the doorway, in the following pic!

Did you see it??

If I were living on this farm, I would have to make good use of the old silo ring! Perhaps use it a baby animal play pen, or make it into raised garden bed. Oh, I got a good one-- turn it into a wigwam!

Gobble, gobble!

The cows seemed to be enjoying all the treats and attention!

Watching bees is fascinating, as long as they are not swimming your beverage!

Speaking of beverage, these ladies suckered me into a swig of extremely strong apple cider vinegar!
Seriously folk's, I've had whisky with less of a punch than what they gave me! Then they handed me a paper, saying this liquid was good for killing fleas and cleaning! I knew this already, but they didn't know I knew, and they were trying there darnedest to talk me out of calling poison control! It was quite hilarious! Anyways, to this day I am flea free and fairly clean!

Thank goodness for the other samples, I had to have a chaser after that apple cider vinegar!

I walked around, crunching on an apple for the rest of the time there!

I don't know much about cooking with cast iron. Mostly, I only use my cast iron cookware when I go camping. Years ago, I remember being instructed to not make apple butter or cook anything very acidic in cast iron. So, when I noticed the cast iron pot of simmering apple butter, I had questions.

Turns out, the demonstrator didn't know that apple butter cooked in cast iron has been linked to several cases of poisonings. (Her and I checked with more experienced cooks.) The most popular reason being is toxic levels of iron and other sediments being cooked into the food. Also, apple butter cooked in cast iron turns an unappealing grey color. Therefore, a copper kettle is the popular and most accepted cookware when making apple butter. I don't know if I saved anyone from being poisoned that day, but I learned a few things.

Fort Wayne, Indiana

2018-09-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Wooo Weeeee, a gal's weekend! Yippeee!

Grace, Jean and I decided to head out to Fort Wayne over Labor Day weekend. On the way, Jean introduced me to my first ever podcast. Yeah, I stay current! (eyes roll)

Podcasting, previously known as audio-blogging, has been in existence for several years now. I'm sure ya'all already knew that. I enjoyed it.

I was told by a fellow blogger, that I had to try a Coney Island, coney dog. Us gals headed right for it, right off the bat. We were not disappointed! These coney dogs are superb! We each ordered one, and we were all thinking-- chili cheese dog-- our waiter said, "Our coney dogs don't need any cheese!" and he was right! They taste perfect just the way they make em: savory, with a hint of sweet from the onion, and doused in a tangy sauce. Let me tell ya, I don't generally even like hot dogs, but this was the bomb; no ketchup needed!

After we all had a coney dog, we saved some room in the ole bellies for a Yummi Bunni. (Pictured Above)
Located right down the street from Coney Island, Yummi Bunni is the newest fad to hit Fort Wayne. It's a ice cream sandwich, with a topping in a dough-nut crust. Us gals decided to share one, since they are rather large and very sweet.

The flavor we chose was French Toast, and the topping was chocolate chips. All the flavors were unusual, such as, exhausted parent, which has bites of coffee chips in a whisky flavored ice cream. We sampled a lot of flavors! It was a fun experience and they were probably glad to see us Goofy Goobers leave!

Our next destination, was the Castle Art Gallery, located only a few blocks away from where we ate lunch. As we passed houses in the downtown district, we kept thinking-- there's the castle!-- cause so many of the houses in that area were of the same type of castle-like construction!

We arrived not knowing what to expect. I had in mind something close to the Fisher-Price toy castle that I had as a kid, which was equipped with a draw bridge over a moat, trap door, dungeon, and a hidden secret room.

While the Castle Art Gallery was impressive, it was no where near what I thought it would be like. To my surprise, Sylvester's long lost cousin greeted us in the parlor! Meow!

Inside was shockingly modern, both in the décor, and choice of featured works of art.

Anyone know what body of water I can hook a fire bass?

The Castle Gallery also serves as the home of it's curators.

I found it to be an interesting experience.

Next we decided to check into our hotel. We had booked a room at Don Hall's Guesthouse.

Shortly after checking in, we switched rooms due to a leak in the ceiling. The new room was not only much less expensive, (do to a lack of movie star photos perhaps), it was also closer to the pool! Yay!

After relaxing in the pool most of the afternoon, we headed out for supper. Jean had been to Fort Wayne many times and she was eager for us to try delicious, fire cooked, pizza at Blaze; it was awesome!

Next up, we ventured out for some fun at Lakeview Rose Park.

As we rode around on our bikes exploring this beautiful park, a wedding rehearsal was taking place. Jean and discussed the wedding on the movie, Crazy Rich Asians, specifically when the bride wades down the isle. I could see this park being the perfect venue for a wading down the isle wedding! Gahhhh!

We got out the ole fly rods and fished the lake while we were there.

The fishing was fun and easy. We all caught fish!

Grace was really into fishing that evening! So much so, that she stayed back to let more fish ride the hook, while Jean and I took another spin throughout the flower gardens.

The scent in the park is amazing!

Jean and I had to stop several times to take in all the beauty!

Flowers, flowers, everywhere! I do believe Lakeview Rose Park was my favorite part of the trip!

The next morning, we set out to check out the local chocolate factory, DeBrand Chocolates.

The tour of the chocolate factory had enlightened me to the fact that some foods covered in chocolate, dare I say-- I do not like! DeBrand is world renowned for it's unique flavor combinations. One such combo I got to try, and found out it wasn't for me, was a jasmine tea infused truffle. However, the chocolate covered, hazelnut paste, hearts were the best ever!

After the chocolate factory, we headed out to try a rather unusual place for lunch. I didn't take any photos, but what reeled us in was the urging from Jean for us to give bubble tea a try. As I walked inside, I couldn't take the array fishy cooking odors. I quickly stepped outside. Turned out, it was a place specializing in Japanese cooking. The bubble tea that Jean brought me was interesting and very sweet. It didn't seem to contain any actual tea as the name implies though. It was very much like a Kool Aid with little trout spawn sized eggs. The bubbles, aka fish eggs, was something I couldn't get passed. I was a trouper and did take a sip, but any drink containing balls resembling fishing bait isn't my cup of tea.

We were in search of a less fishy place to eat lunch and ended up at a Mexican hole in the wall place.
At first we were reluctant to go inside because the place was very run down, however, the reviews were outrageously positive, so we took a chance. Taqueria, I believe is the name of the place where we ate lunch. Luckily, I speak fluent Spanish, and even better Spanish when Tequila is involved. ;-)
Although the aviance was poor, (unless you enjoy flickering florescent lights in a very 1980's dining room), the food was delicious. The best thing I tasted there was Jean's pulled pork tacos. I do believe they were better than the steak tacos I ordered.

After lunch, we went to the Karpeles Museum. It's located inside a very grand building:

The Karpeles Museum was the worst museum I have ever been to! The grand building was over 90% empty. The artifacts, and I use that term loosely, on display were few in number and ridiculously non-authentic. The five minutes it took us to view the few items, left us with the rest of the afternoon to seek adventure, so we toured the botanical gardens.

The botanical garden self-guided tour was very relaxing and peaceful. For a Saturday afternoon, the place was virtually empty. I was fond of the wide variety of flora.

Everyday we enjoyed plenty of sunshine as we went biking, fishing, and swimming! We also enjoyed several good card games!

The next day, we shared a lunch at Shigs In Pit Barbeque; it was good!

Afterward, we explored the fishing at another park we passed when exploring.

The park looks pretty from the road, sadly, a closer look revealed water full of garbage. We didn't stay long. Besides, I had my heart set on fishing the rivers.

We fished several sections of the rivers in Fort Wayne. We didn't catch anything to brag about, but had fun anyways. Biking along the Rivergreenway Trail was much easier than I had anticipated. Thank Goodness. For good measure, we stretched frequently and relaxed in the hotel hot tub.

Salvatori's Italian restaurant was our favorite place for supper! I didn't take any pics, yet I got my camera pulled up on my phone when we ordered the berry tiramisu for dessert. Before I could function my button tapping finger, the dessert plate was empty! Not Joking Here! Anyways, I had the lasagna for supper and it was fabulous. I want to get me a calzone from there sometime.

Mostly, we had the hotel pools and hot tub to ourselves. Oddly, the outdoor pool was open until 11PM, but no one could turn the pool or patio lights on. Sometimes we swam outside in the dark anyways. True Story!

The town of Fort Wayne hosted a HUGE Labor Day picnic!

We were curious and stopped by the picnic right before hitting the road back home. I was shocked by the generosity of the town of Fort Wayne! All the food and drinks were free! All the BEER was FREE! The food was really good too. I tried spring rolls, fried veggies and some nachos with cheese. They had a great spread of food and lots of variety including hot dogs, tacos, fried fish, fried veggies and much more!

The picnic left me feeling very warm towards the town of Fort Wayne. The number of folk's that attended, and the way it was organized, was the best large gathering that I've seen in a long time! Us gals were filmed by the local news there!

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, full of great food and fun experiences!

What's New?

2018-09-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey! What's up?

I know it's been awhile since I last blogged; not much has changed.

I'm still kicking. I didn't mean to end abruptly on the, Arms of an Angel post. I just really like that song.

I refrained from blogging mostly due to technical issues, which with the help of Geek Squad, I just got resolved! Soooo happy about that! However, I did have some medical excitement. Without going into all the boring details, I had a hard time functioning at work and it turned out I needed iron, severely!

The hospital gave me what I needed and it fixed me up almost instantly! I had no symptoms other than the passing out, but in hind sight, I do recall being very tired and out of breath frequently. I just figured it was from getting old and working hard. The doctors checked out the ole ticker and I'm fine. The MRI showed a growth on my small intestine-- lucky me! I am happy to say the meds are making the growth go away and I feel great now. Well, mostly except for a issue in my left hand! What the heck is happening to me???

I'm right handed, so I reckon, I'll be fine. ;-) Okay enough about my medical history, I'm probably sounding like a familiar one of those elderly folks.

So, I let a baby fox in the living room the other day!

Why did I do that, you ask? Because when nature calls, a gal must answer!

Crickets. Oh well.

Sylvester, my cat, was looking out the screen door and, all of the sudden puffed up! So, I go look out the door and don't see anything. I pick up Sylvester, open the door and go out to check the front of the house. Low and behold-- a little baby fox walks in! I put Sylvester and Sophie and the cage and got the camera. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! A little while later, someone came by looking for their dog. My appointment with the eye doctor is next Monday. Truth.

In other news, Lake Michigan is still the spot to go to cool off.

Jean spends many evenings watching the sunset there. Sometimes I go with her.

This particular beach is located in Michigan City, Indiana.

Besides, relaxing at the beach, the dog park is Sophie's top spot to hang out!

She runs Troy through the obstacles until he is good and tired.

Birds! Birds are new. Glady's friend gave her two parakeets, Scuttle and Rio. I'm still getting to know these birds. So far, I can tell ya Scuttle is a nice girl, and Rio is a finger biting jerk! Sylvester has never been happier, or more entertained though!

Speaking of Gladys, she is a freshman this year!

Her current passion is soccer! She is good at it-- except when she gets yellow carded. When did soccer become aggressive? She has had her fingernails ripped off, her nose broke, and possibly a concussion and the season has just begun! Also, well, perhaps I shouldn't mention her poor opponents.

Let's talk about my passion: work! One of many of my passions. I find it exciting to be part of transforming dumpy houses into nice homes. My latest achievements include putting a new roof on the Wheeler house and garage.

I did have help with the roofing-- thank goodness! I am working on the siding now. It may take some time, as the weather plays an important role in this job. More on that later.

Does anyone need some photo reactor copper compound? I have no idea, but it's Jean's job in Chemistry, that I don't understand. Basically, she made really cool blue stuff and has made scientific contributions to the chemistry periodicals! How about that? She is a senior in college this year.

Jean enjoys fishing. Her and I have recently started fishing since, what seems like, forever ago.

We mostly caught smallies out of the yellow river, but had a few other types of fish surprise us, like the largemouth bass she is holding in the above pic. We have yet to catch anything real big this year-- besides trees, of course. :-)

Grace fishes with me on occasion too! Her and I are going to try to make it a weekly habit, as it seems we both need medicinal fishing. Who doesn't, right?

I'll tell ya what, there are some hungry largemouth bass out there! Also, plenty of little panfish, bluegills and redears mostly. Yeah-- it's what was biting! Where are the bigger fish? At least it might not be that hard to beat this years personal bests! ;-)

The blanket bundle my sailor is holding, is Grace. Circa 1988.

I doubt I'll go all the way back to 1988 to catch up on missed posts, but perhaps some recaps between now and March might be happening. Stay tuned! :-)

Arms of an Angel

2018-03-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Inside the Wheeler House

2018-01-31T18:16:00.000-08:00

My lock picking skills are improving! Shall we take a look inside?

Hey-- someone left me a bottle of air freshener! Ugg-- it's gonna take more than a bottle of air freshener to freshen up this place!

What is that furry thing in the corner? Not sure I wanna know.

The shudders are kind cute!

I don't know if I can handle going into the basement without a respirator. Seriously.

Someone had died here. The stench in the house is about 70% rotting flesh, 20% moldy basement, and 10% rodent waste.

On a more positive note-- I like the built-in shelves!

Why has this place been ransacked?

The front door is sealed shut. Interesting.

Is that a live animal? Nope, just old furs.

Come on in Mom! Doesn't she look thrilled? ;-)

Mom actually likes working with me. Granted it does seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it's not anything we can't handle.

I see a ton of potential in this house.

I think the roof must be fairly new. It's no longer leaking and looks good.

Someone was a little too late in replacing it though. Better late than never, I guess.

Was this a beauty salon? How cool is it to have a shampoo sink room!? Wow!

Another ceiling that's caving in! Bummer.

Someone liked to read! Sooo many boxes of books and magazines!

There isn't even a path to the window or closet, just a sea of stuff!

I like the real wood floor!

Sooo, let's see-- three bedrooms plus a beauty salon room! It's a fairly decent layout too!

I can see this house getting one heck of a makeover!

I wonder what's in the attic?

It's exciting to explore and fix up these old houses! During this initial tour, I held my breath and ran outside periodically for air. Also, I pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose. Next time I work inside, I'm going to have to use a respirator. A gal cannot be too careful when it comes to her health!

Outside the Wheeler House

2018-01-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hellloooo!

Here is my current project:

The house has been abandoned for a couple of years now.

Sadly, the owner of this property died, and none of his family wanted it. Apparently, no one wanted the cars in the driveway either!

A lot of items were left behind.

The local mechanic has service records for the cars. I don't plan to fix them up, but someone else might want to.

I found the wheels to this one beside the garage:

The garage had a foot of leaves mixed with tools and hardware covering the floor.

It's a shame no one took care of things here.

The garage is going to need a new roof this summer.

The house was a tax sale property that I won the bid for. It looks as though it has the same steps as the Kingsford Heights porch had.

True Story: Troy was helping me, when he got a phone call. He told the caller he was busy pulling down a house in Grovertown. The next time the same caller called, he was using a sledge hammer to take out a porch. And the next time the caller called, he was watching videos on how to pick locks. What can I say, Troy keeps busy!.

The house seems to sit up high, which I like.

As expected, it needs quite a bit of work!

I like that it has a walk-in basement.

Ugg, a septic without a cap is like the symbol for these tax sale houses, lemme tell ya!

The house borders the old Wheeler High School, which is now a community center.

Isn't funny, how the grass is greener over there!

From the outside, it appeared that every room was filled up past the windows with stuff!

Looks like a new storm door and porch is needed here!

I came back a few days later, and someone from the community center had mowed the yard! How Nice!

Pruners! I'm going to need the pruners! And maybe the chainsaw.

After I sold a bunch of firewood that was piled up against the house, I discovered that the basement didn't have any glass in this window!

I reckon, it will be plan B, for entering the house, if the lock picking doesn't go well. :-)

Turkey Run

2018-01-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

This past November I had the opportunity to spend a weekend at Turkey Run State Park!

Thank Goodness for the spa tub!

I hiked my legs off at this place!

It's sooo pretty, my pictures do not do it justice.

The weather was oddly mild (70 degrees) and I was all about the hiking!

The park was not crowded at all, and I suppose it was due to the time of year.

I thought I would give trail 3 a try; parts of it, was indeed, very rugged! The bridge wasn't one of those parts. The bridge was totally easy and fun!

The rock formations were grand for bring in the middle of Indiana! This one is referred to as the Ice Box:

Uncle Bobby said Grandma Miller used to take him camping here often as a kid.

He told me a story of when Grandma twisted her ankle. Bobby and my brother had to boy scout her back to the campground! I was totally able to imagine that scenario.

I was surprised and relieved that I didn't see any snakes!

Maybe I didn't look hard enough, I don't know.

I felt ~~exhausted~~ at home enough to lie down and relax right in the middle of the woods!

A storm was moving in, but it didn't send me running. I didn't want to leave, and I had began to get the feeling that I had been here before.

I remembered this part:

Dad was hiking with Mom and I, and he was joking about his big belly fitting through that space in the rocks!

By the time I reached the bridge at the beginning of the trail, the rain was coming down hard, as was the temperature.

Turkey Run really is so beautiful! I can't wait to go back! I didn't get to hike as much as I wanted, due to the weather and extremely high winds.

Plus, I know there are some fish in the creek that I'd like to meet! ;-)

Amish Acres

2018-01-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

Nooo idea why my sister has that expression, but I can tell you it happens so often that it no longer phases me! :-)

Maybe it was her roller coaster face, Who can say?. Mom's been on this ride before, Can ya tell?.

Us girls, had ourselves a girl trip to Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana. I found this adorable top:

I am sooo going to try to make one sometime. Besides the shopping, the scenery was awesome:

The windmill is located outside of the Bluegate Restaurant.

The landscaping had me mesmerized!

Wow, was it hot out on this day too!

The flowers were just so BIG!

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit Amish Acres several times. After every visit, I have found myself to be inspired in some way; this time was no exception.

I had caught me the sewing bug! I had cut out quilt squares, several years ago, and had plans to make something awesome.

The squares are from my Grandma Miller's (RIP) everyday clothes. Her clothes brought back so many memories that I couldn't bear to part with them, so I didn't. Instead, I felt that making a quilt from them would be the best way to honor her memory.

The quilt isn't finished yet, but I'm off to a good start!

Miscellaneous

2018-01-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Ya'All!

Hopefully everyone is as happy as a dog with a bone treat!

Sophie is BUSY!

I'm almost done going through pics from this past year.

Summer flew by. I only made it to the drive-in once. The 49er has been here, in Valparasio, ever since I can remember. We went to see a Minion, and a Spider-Man, double feature.

During the dog days of summer, most of my time was spent working on the properties.

I did scrap and paint our patio furniture though. Sorry, no pics of the before and after makeover yet.

Hello kittypillar! Look at those feet!

Sophie and I went hiking often.

Troy went with to explore a new park east of us.

It had long trails of decking over several acres of wet land.

I found it rather interesting.

We got caught in the rain, but it was so warm out that we didn't mind.

In other news, Jamie, Jean's friend, had a baby boy. I crocheted him this little puppy outfit:

Oh, my favorite day ever, rolled around--- the first day of school!!! Don't these kids look happy!

That's better!

Jean turned 21-- can you believe it? She also went purple haired!

Right before Jamie gave birth to her son, I fished with her and Curt at the harbor in Michigan City on Lake Michigan.

Curt seems to have a real knack for carp fishing!

Besides, fishing, painting, hiking, movies and fixing up houses. I did a little gardening.

I did say "little". :-) I planted a few flowers in the yard, but not as much as I would have liked to.

Check out these guys:

Isn't nice to have a little bit of summer brought to you in the middle of winter? ;-)

I couldn't decide which angle I liked best!

My two little Sweethearts!

Guess who was a blue man for Halloween?

Yup, Troy! Funny Story: We go to Portage for a haunted hayride. On the car ride there, Troy kept asking questions about the hayride-- like if it was for kids, and how scary I thought it would be. Troy got so worked up about the hayride that he was too scared to actually go on it!

So, we walked around for a bit, until Troy seen a ghost in the window!

I have photographic proof that ghosts exists!!

My New Baby

2018-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

Meowww! I went to check out our local animal shelter. I was ready to take home the pretty girl in the center of the pic! She was recovering from surgery and wasn't ready to go though.

Gladdie's friend's grandmother had kittens to find homes for. They were adorable, but super wild and scared.

Plus, mama kitty wasn't ready for them to go just yet.

The shelter showed me this little guy and I fell in love with him at first sight!

I named him Sylvester, and he's my new baby!

My shoulder is his favorite place to be.

If he isn't cuddling, than he cries, it's sooo sweet!

He still took bottle supplements when I brought him home.

He liked his wet food, but was just learning how to eat real food.

He missed his real cat-Mom. He was definitely into being cuddled.

Sylvester liked to play from the start, but at 4 weeks of age, he tired out quickly.

Also, he was cutting teeth and earned the nickname, Bitty Face.

He was careful not no bite anyone too hard.

Don'tcha just love it when pets forget, and leave their tongues hanging out. Too Cute!!!

He is one little, cuddly, love bug!

I made him and Sophie matching sweaters!

Sylvester likes Sophie well enough, better than he likes wearing a sweater anyway.

Sylvester is growing like a weed! Currently, he has the biggest kangaroo feet that I've seen on a house cat!

He still likes my shoulder, but is starting to get used to his bed.

Today, Sylvester is five months old!

Isn't he just the sweetest little guy! :-)

Shakamak July 2017

2018-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to catch ya'All up, I'm still posting old pictures of the past year and a half.

I'm guessing, maybe 3 or 4 more posts and then everyone will be up to speed! ;-)

We spent a week at Shakamak.

This place is a fishing paradise!

Most of the time, we had the entire lake to ourselves!

We camped in a cabin on top of a hill from the lake.

It was convenient to be right there by the water.

We didn't use the cabin much except for sleeping.

Mostly, we spent our days outside fishing, hiking, and swimming.

The kids each had their own set of bunk beds.

I brought some Jiffy Pop Popcorn with and it didn't work over the fire, so Troy tried to cook it on the stove in the cabin. The bag caught on fire and then spread to the kitchen. The extinguisher came in handy! Our cabin smelled like popcorn the rest of the week!

The pool was nice!

The kids got a lot of use out of the diving board.

I got a lot of use out of my fly rod!

Troy was all about the ultra light!

This little fellow ate good all week, thanks to us!

Speaking of eating, I tried a new way to cook blueberry muffins on the fire.

It starts with an empty orange peel.

Wrapped in foil and put in some hot coals.

15 minutes later, it was done-- sorta. It was more like a bread pudding than a muffin. At least the extinguisher wasn't needed this time! ;-)

One of the days, the temperature out was over 100 degrees.

The pool was closed due to intermittent lighting, so we checked out the local bowling ally.

STRIKE!!!! From the fish anyways! ;-)

The scenery on the way home was just like an Indiana Postcard.

Complete with a little white church at the end of the gravel road.

A detour to Pendleton was made for a quick reunion with friends. Hello, Fellas! Quack

Fall's Park hadn't changed much.

This is one of my favorite spots in the park!

The creek was majorly flooded.

I have seen it this bad before and it's rather unsettling.

How sad, poor little, abandoned, washed up eggs.

Grovertown Fire

2018-01-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

Last November, late in the afternoon, I got a phone call from the Fire Chief. He asked me if it was okay to do the burn on the demolished house.

I was happy the burn was finally going to happen. Also, since it wasn't scheduled in advance, no one had the chance to cancel it! :-)

Grovertown is a good 30 minutes or so from where I live. By the time Mom, Troy, and I got there, the burn was well underway.

Janet, my nephew's wife whose also a friend, stopped by. It was nice to have a few people to sit with and watch the fire.

Nothing exploded, so that was good. Although, there were plenty of cracks, pops and other sounds coming from the fire.

The firemen and women were awesome. They had everything under control the entire time.

The neighbor's garage was not damaged at all, nor was his property flooded.

All went well. I got my house burned down just like I wanted, and the fire department got some valuable training in, along with a nice donation!

I enjoyed this demolition project. It's still a few steps from being complete, as now I have a basement to fill in, but it's getting there.

I don't know what my next one will be yet, but I am looking forward to it!

Here's a video created by my little guy, Troy:

Grovertown Demolition

2018-01-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

Hi There!

I thought about fixing this house up.

I found extensive termite damage and rotted wood.

Plus, it needed a new well and septic, among a long list of other things. Let me show you the inside:

Sadly people were staying here. I say sadly, because it's hard to imagine how bad things would have to before I would have camped here.

My paperwork tells me it's on a crawl space. I thought I could sorta see the floor of the crawl as I looked though the boards. I asked the local fire department if they wanted to burn it down. They said, "Yes". I was told to ask the neighbors if the following Saturday would be okay, as they may have to close the road for a bit. All the neighbors agreed to that date. The morning the burn was to take place, the guy next door changed his mind; he didn't trust the fire department would keep his property from being damaged. (This was a blessing in disguise though!)

So, I began demolishing the house myself. When I first started demolishing the house, I used a rope with carabineers on the ends for easy hook up and release. That was a mistake, because even a rotten house is to much for 2000 ton carabineer. The clip broke and went flying though trees, over the neighbor's fence, through the glass of his storm window and the true window pane, through a woven lawn chair, and a glass lantern hanging in the garage. Luckily, it didn't hit anyone. The neighbor guy wasn't happy I broke his windows. I could tell he was having second thoughts about not having the fire department burn it.

I approached the neighbor guy again, fixed his windows and proposed that I collapse the house first and then we have the fire department light it up. After witnessing me in action, he agreed to that!

The house sits on a little over an acre of land. Ideally, I wanted the house to fall away from the neighbor's garage. So, I started at the other end, ripping out studs with just the rope and the truck (no carabineers this time!).

EEeeek, SNAKE!

Gladys and Troy decided to earn some money, so they came with to rip the vinyl siding off the house. I try to recycle as much as possible.

As we were working Gladys asked me to toss her a crowbar. I did, and it accidently went inside the house right through a small hole in the floorboards. She went to retrieve it and couldn't reach it. So, I gave her the longest crowbar I had with us that day. I'm thinking the house is only a crawl space, why isn't she able to reach it. SUDDENLY, THE FLOOR CAVED IN AND SHE FELL RIGHT THROUGH TO THE BASEMENT!

So much for the house being on a crawl space! Apparently, what I thought was the floor of the crawl was really to top of a rusty drum. I guess technically, part of the house is on a crawl, but most of it is basement. Funny thing, is that there was no indication of stairs or cellar doors or any way of access to the basement. Gladys didn't get hurt at all. I found a total of 4 drums in the basement, and all sounded full. (See why the delay in burning may have been a blessing!)

Mom began coming with us to supervise, no idea why she felt we needed that! :-)

Speaking of fire department, I had a little incident. I had me a small burn pile going to help keep things tidy as we torn down the house. The trouble is, the fire spread faster than I expected. Noo problem, I came prepared with a few gallon jugs of water to put the fire out before I left. That wasn't enough! It kept spreading and reached the bushes! The kids and I tried smothering it with the rakes and shovel we had. We needed something bigger. I had a brilliant idea-- I ripped off the foil looking stuff from the side of the house and put it over the fire! Ahhh, there we go, fire's out--- five seconds later--- VoooooSHH IT BURST INTO FLAMES! BIG FLAMES! Note: foil looking stuff on sides of houses is apparently extremely flammable!

It wouldn't had been a big deal to me if the house burnt down, since that was what I was planning, but the time wasn't right yet. After all, I still had a basement with enough fuel in it to rocket to the moon!

Most of the fuel in those drums did eventually get sold. The little bit that was left behind, I made sure the fire department was aware of.

The basement was good, in the fact that it would make for a bigger fire pit to burn the house in. I had confidence in the fire department all along, but I could understand the neighbors concern. He was worried about both the heat and flooding.

I left that end of the house alone.

I used log chains to tear more of the house away with my truck. Also, to encourage it to fall how I wanted it to, two of the corner posts were cut with a chainsaw.

The house was, one fat bird landing on it, away from collapsing!

The house sort of teeter-tottered in the wind, and the other supports began to bow ever so slightly.

At this point, it became unsafe to get to close to the falling structure. In order to hook up the chain, I took a brick tied to the rope and tossed it, to fish the chain tied to the other end, through.

Little by little, sections of the house got ripped away.

The house began to sink, and creek and pop!

I figured I had one more section to pull out before it gave way.

As an audience gathered in the street, I fished my rope and chain around the last section!

I pulled it out, and to my surprise NOTHING HAPPENED!

S L O W L Y the house began to fall until it rested on the cut corner post.

At this point, I knew what I had to do! I had to get that chimney outta there! My brick/rope throwing skills were now quite perfected! I fished the chain around that chimney, added another 15 foot section of log chain and hoped for the best!

It fell this time; just how I needed it to fall, too! Mom and I were delighted!

That was FUN!

Good Times! :-)

Laporte Houses

2018-01-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I bought my first house as an investment experiment. I wanted to see if I could fix it up to flip it, and really make it financially worthwhile.

The experiment was a success, although the house didn't sale, instead I couldn't pass up the option to rent it out.

Currently, the house has more than paid for itself in the rent I have collected!

Fixing up the house was fun. I did most of the work myself with the help of my crew consisting of Mom, Roni, Jean and Jamie.

Much of the work that was done consisted of cleaning and painting.

I did update the some of the lights, and I replaced any flawed electrical outlets.

I installed the plumbing for a main floor laundry unit. Plus, I got very skilled at the art of sweating copper pipes when I fixed a few leaks in the basement. As you can see, I didn't burn the place down!

It's a nice place to live now; very clean and fresh!

I've been blessed with good tenants and that motivated me to purchase another house in Laporte!

This little cottage I refer to as the lake house, but it isn't directly on the lake. It is across the street from Pine Lake though.

The lake house needed a new roof and I had to fix the plumbing.

I didn't mind, given what I paid for the property, to do a little work. This house has been the best investment so far.

I feel like my intuition kicks in when screening applicants to rent to. A thorough background check, never hurts though.

All I can say is, I have gotten lucky when it comes to finding good tenants.

So there you have it, this is my new job, and I love it!

Kingsford Heights House

2018-01-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

Another property I acquired at the Laporte County Tax Sale is the Kingsford Heights house. This one was a learning experience! First of all, it was my first auction acquired property with a house.

Just about every window in the house was broken.

And it needed a new roof right away, because a tree fell on it. It had a new roof built over the old roof. I'm talking a double layer of wood and shingles. It was a mess.

The more complicated part of this particular house was gaining possession of it. See, the way this works is after winning the bid at the auction, the redemption period begins. During that time, the current owner of the house can still pay the taxes and keep the house. In this case, the owner wasn't able to do that. The redemption period ended and a judge ordered that I have legal possession. So, Great! However, the owner and his dog was still living there.

I went up to the door of the house for the first time and heard the dog barking inside. I decided to get the assistance of the town Marshall. When we went to the house together, he knocked at the door and heard the dog barking too. Then it got real quiet as he turned the door knob to check to see if it was locked. It wasn't!!! All of the sudden, he opened the door and the dog lunged at him and BIT HIS CHEST right where his heart is! He instinctively reached for his gun, as he pulled the door shut on the dog! He turned to me and asked if I wanted him to shoot the dog. I did not. I don't feel a dog should be punished for being a good guard dog. We left the house. The Marshall was thankful he had on his bullet/dog bite proof vest.

At this point, I contacted my lawyer to see what he wanted me to do next. He strongly advised I obtain a writ of assist and let the authorities handle it from here on out. While that might sound okay, it's an expensive mess. First of all, the county police required I place a bond of $5000. This money is to cover the expense of having to move someone out, pack all of the belongings, and place all the stuff in a storage unit.

The next day, I returned with a plan of my own, involving meatballs laced with a very strong sedative and a cage. My thinking here was to have someone make a ruckus at the front door, while I sneaked up to the side door and tossed in the meatballs. When the tainted meatballs took affect, carefully drag the dog into the cage. Once the dog was contained, and removed from the house, chances were good he wouldn't be as aggressive since he would be awakening in unfamiliar territory. I know, I am a genius!

My plan never got to be put into action though, because when I arrived at the house the (former) owner was there. I approached him in a kind manner, introduced myself, and asked him to move out of my house. We had a good talk. He said he would move, if he had a place to go. We exchanged phone numbers and I told him I was going to help him move out. I had no idea how this was going to happen!

Being a gal who keeps her word, I returned the next day with a pastor from my church. Also, I found a temporary foster home that specializes in Pit bulls, which happened to be that type of dog. The pastor has experience working with the homeless as well as those that have recently been released from prison. The former owner fit into both of these categories. We had a productive meeting and the result was he agreed to allow us to help him move. He surrendered his dog to the authorities, as was his choice. Then we set a moving date!

Winter was approaching fast, and the former owner changed his mind at the last minute about moving into a homeless shelter. Instead, he wanted a train ticket to someplace south. I agreed to purchase his washer and dryer for the $50, which happened to be the amount he needed for a train ticket to his destination. The pastor and I loaded up the back of my pick-up truck with his belongings. He willing left the majority of his possessions behind. We said our goodbyes and he was on the next train headed south. That was that!

Quickly, I got busy fixing up the house. I found the bathroom plumbing to be one heck of a mess. I removed most of the floor to replace rotted wood caused by the roof damage. It was just as well, because I couldn't stand the goofed up plumbing, so I fixed it too--- very satisfying, btw!!!

It's too bad no one bothered to take care of protecting the house from further damage after the tree fell, prior to me getting the house. The rain caused damage to almost every ceiling, all which had to be replaced.

I removed the damaged parts and all of the acoustic tiles, but did not replace them.

Instead, I had a growing list of folk's that wanted to rent this three bedroom house as is! So, I figured, I could always add tiles later if I wanted to. Some of the wood had minor water damage. A few layers of Kilz paint took care of it being an eyesore.

I was satisfied with my work.

The inside of the house was ready for it's family!

The house now has all new windows, doors, insulation, roof, siding, and the inside has been freshly painted and cleaned!

Before I began on the outside work, families were begging me to rent out this house. So I did.

Replacing the front porch, was next on my list.

I often shop yard sales and second hand shops to get really great deals on housing items. The yard lights I purchased at a sale. The entire box of six lights costs me $2.00; lightbulbs included!!! Sometimes, I run into issues. In this case, it wasn't the light itself, but trying to secure it to the house. Little stuff like that makes me think how funny it is, that something that should be so easy, can be a real trick!

I thought taking out this porch was going to be easier than it was too!

The actual porch wasn't hard to remove with a sledge hammer, and let me tell you, it's a great workout/stress reliever!

The steps were the hard part because of the type of concrete they were made out of, and they were solid.

I rented a baby jack hammer, because I lifting the big mama hammer was really hard for me. My great nephew Dillon and sister Veronica (Roni) were my helpers that day.

We all took turns, and little by little, some concrete got chipped away.

It was taking longer than what I thought it should, so I returned the baby and got the big mama the next day. Gladys gave it a try!

Even with the big mama jack hammer, it was slow going and very hard work. When I need to tear out this type of concrete again, I will give a concrete chainsaw a try.

I hauled the rubble out to a house in Grovertown to use as fill.

Due to the old porch slopping slightly inward, towards the house, the wood was rotted from water running to it.

Lucky for me, it was a matter of replacing the old wood with new, and I was able to attach it to good wood without having to remove the siding. For extra protection, and because I had siding leftover, I covered it. BTW-- when it comes to vinyl siding, invest in the dutch lap style; it's much more durable and resistant to chipping if you bump into it.

The hardest part about building a porch was digging the footers. Even though I was fortunate to use a hydraulic auger, it wasn't easy. The auger kept running into rocks and roots, plus the mix of clay that is natural in the soil doesn't help. When the auger would hit a rock, it forced it to drill at an angle, thus, a lot of repositioning had to be done.

The repositioning caused my placements to be a little off, but I can live with that. The important thing is to get the posts down below the frost line, to prevent heaving as the temperature changes.

Another obstacle I ran into was not having everything out of the way. I intentionally left a small amount of rubble to help keep any potential weed growth in check. It was a mistake to leave the bigger pieces, because they were in the way. I was able to remove them with the help of friends though.

Finishing up was easy. The posts all got trimmed and I secured a railing. My brother gave me some lattice to use, but I thought it looked fine without it.

A little landscaping, and this place is going to be a real head turner!!!

Looking back at all the work that went into this little house, I was concerned with how the numbers would total out. Doing the majority of the work myself, made the numbers indicate this was a good investment! Also, because of what I had experienced with gaining possession of this house, I feel confident in future endeavors that may lead down that path. Just a note though: my lawyer's advice was solid from a legal perspective. However, when a gal's in business for herself, she has to listen to herself first! Consider all the advice and follow your own heart. :-)

Henry Ford Museum

2018-01-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody!

We visited the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan, over Christmas vacation! The horse with his head down reminded me of Eeyore.

The wagon ride out to the restaurant was nice. It was all part of a special event, called Holiday Night's, in Greenfield Village.

After supper, Troy and I rode on a wonderful historic carousel, then checked out the train displays.

The carousel is located inside a large gazebo type building; it's on the right in the pic below.

As I walked around the traveled-back-in-time town, the locals all wished me a Happy New Year!

The buildings are remarkable! Soooo much history, I totally got my nerd on!!!

The only problem was, I froze.

The buildings were quite spread out, and walking to each one, all bundled up, got to be exhausting.

Although, I will say, warming fires were throughout the town, and several of the buildings were heated. The one below, used to be the home of Mr. Heinz, creator of Heinz brand ketchup.

The evening was rounded out with a Model T ride!

If only we could have been transported from house to house and turned the heat on while doing so. Wait a sec... that sounds like a 2018 sort of thing! Maybe I am more futuristic than I thought. :-)

The next day, we visited the actual museum itself.

It's much more than just vehicles!

I was intrigued by the kitchen timeline displays. Where can I get a sink like that??!

I'm a fan of that stove!

The displays make it easy to picture what it was like back then.

I'm a sucker for this olden day stuff!

My favorite display was the dollhouses!!!

I wanted to start building one asap!!!

The details held so much inspiration. For example, the way this tree is lit up inspires me to re-think untangling Christmas lights!

Troy had fun! He had us all to himself, because Gladys opted out of going.

A couple of displays that I wished I had photographed were the HUGE locomotives and the Mylaxin house.

We were all busy having fun and Troy sure was on the road to happiness...

until his car broke down. JK Troy got the opportunity to help put together an actual Model T!

It was a grand place to visit!

As grand as the spot this bird used for his nest!

Warmest Wishes to All!

Westville Dump

2018-01-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is! I bought land in Westville, Indiana! It was my first tax sale property. I've always been curious as to how these tax sale buyers really make out with there winning bids. I still don't know about the group as a whole, but for me, I feel like I got extremely lucky!

Who gets this excited over a junk yard? Meee, It's me. Definitely me, that's who!

See, it's not the junk I'm excited about. It's the potential. I was fortunate to win the bid at a very low price, and to have resources to help me with the legalities of a tax sale property.

OOoooh, look at this gem that I found under a bunch of rubble!

Plus, I got to clean it up, and that made sooo many folk's around the neighborhood happy! Cleaning it up was all about sorting. There's the keeps and the no keeps.

For the most part, I only found a few pieces of lumber that could be reused, which of course I kept, and a burning bin. It's too bad so much of the lumber was rotten. The burning bin was actually a rusted out metal wardrobe. I kept it because it will come in handy when burning conditions are not ideal, like too windy, or in city limits, or whatever.

So, after harvesting all of the keeps, the rest was more sorting. I negotiated a great deal on renting a dumpster and recycling the tires, they all went in that specific dumpster. I hauled all the metal to our local scrap yard. The rotten wood got burned and plastics were recycled.

And just like that-- a junkyard was turned into a future home site!

Currently, I am waiting on the legalities to be completed. Specifically, a quiet title. Due to mortgage lenders not being trusting of tax sale properties, because they have a hard time insuring them with the title companies, a quiet title was recommended. This legal action, once completed will allow folk's who wish to purchase this property the option of financing and offer a clean title. Otherwise, the property can only be sold via a cash purchase and only the deed could be passed along.

I do like the property. I'm hoping to sell it, but I'm not in a hurry to sale. It's peaceful, and the beauty of owning land is it's low maintenance. Also, now that the structure is no longer here, the taxes can be reassessed to a much lower amount!

In conclusion, the tax sale properties are something I intend to pursue. They can be an inexpensive way to acquire property.

Fostering

2018-01-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sadly, France passed away this past year. In the pic below, he is just sleeping ever so peacefully.

France was a good cat! He died due to being euthanized by our local vet. I could no longer let him suffer the ill effects of kidney issues and cancer.

HE was a good mother. Over this past year, I took in three kittens in need of homes. They found comfort in pretending to nurse from France.

This little cutie is Midnight!

Autumn is the name of this pretty girl!

Mustachio went home with Jean's newly married friend, Jamie!

Actually, all three kittens found homes. I would have kept them all if I could have though.

True Story: Troy, Sophie and I were traveling a busy road in the rain when all of the sudden a truck stops up ahead and a man gets out and placed, what I thought to be a teddy bear, along the side of the road. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was no teddy bear, but A REAL LIVE DOGGIE!

The man in the truck sped away before I could get his plate info. We went knocking on doors and asked everyone we approached about the dog. No one had seen him before. I posted his pic on social media and still no one new of him. We named him Hamlet. Partially, because he looks so much like our hamster only 100X bigger, and part because he snorts a lot like a piggy. :-)

He enjoyed trips to the Dunes, digging in the sand, and he was crazy about Sophie!

Sophie, btw, does not enjoy the Dunes at all. I think she was looking for my kayak. The large intermittent waves seemed to make her very nervous. Rightfully so, they can be dangerous!!!

Uncle Bobby met Hamlet and wanted him. He has Snowball, our goat-cat too.

I am so thankful that Uncle Bobby took these pets in, because I still get to see them often. Hamlet was renamed Teddy Bear and is living the good life!

Happy Newer 2018!

2018-01-07T08:15:00.002-08:00

This past New Year's Eve I spent at home relaxing in front of the TV with my pets. Wait a sec... I do that EVERY New Year's Eve! :-)

I turned into a ghost too! Boo! :-)

Seriously, I bleached my hair super blonde, blondie-blonde!!! I felt like it was time for a change again. I liked the new look for a few minutes.

In other news, I've been blessed with several properties that have kept me busy. You're looking at a dump in Westville, which got cleaned up this past fall.

Here's another project that kept me busy, which (God willing), I intend to elaborate on all of these in future posts.

In between working on properties, we went to Wisconsin Dells!

Our destination was the Kalahari Indoor Waterpark!

One of the reasons, I don't ever keep my blonde locks for too long is that, I'm like a fish drawn to water and chlorine doesn't do treated hair any good.

Wisconsin Dells is like a ghost town during the winter. Most attractions didn't have many folks around. What happened to our nation's capital?

I wanted to see the ice castles, but it wasn't cold enough! All that had formed was ice mounds.

The vacation was nice though. Mostly, we spent it relaxing and playing at the Waterpark. Surfing was a big hit there. The kids enjoyed their Christmas gift trip for 2016.

Properties kept me busy and I enjoyed working on them. The Laporte area is in such need of good places to rent that I fell victim to letting the house. In hindsight, it has been one of the best decisions ever!

So much so, that I bought another house with the sole purpose of renting it out!

In record breaking news--- Gladys had her first boyfriend over! Notice the distance between them on the sofa! Hehe.

Sheesh, the dog and cat sit closer than they do! Not that I'm complaining, mind you!!!

We do have a new addition to the family. His name is Neilson, and he's a dwarf hamster.

Everyone like the little guy. Troy's friend Cameron gave Neilson to us. Prior to the hamster, Cameron gave us a Hermit Crab. I told Cameron I wanted him to get a miniature pony next please! ;-)

Besides working on new to me houses, I've also been trying to give Mom a hand with her house. It's the house I grew up in and the place I call home.

Can you tell that I painted the trim around the windows? Yup, a gal's gotta keep up with her own home maintenance too!

My last project of the year was this charming number:

Oh the stories I have to tell!!!

Happy New 2017!

2018-01-06T17:22:00.000-08:00

HAP-py New Year!

Better late than never, eh? ;)

Yes, yes, I know, it's now 2018. How did I manage to skip a year and a half? I blinked!!!

Sophie-- pay attention!!! (mmm, I smell treats!)

Last Christmas we didn't go see Santa. :-( I was good though. ;-)

2018 is going to be a wonderful Christmas! It's funny how I plan for it immediately after the passing of 2017's Christmas. What can I say--- I really LOVE Christmas! 2017 was good, as you will see, but this year, when Christmas rolls around, I'm going to be more prepared. I will read this in my blog and: organize and bring out ALL the Christmas decorations, go get photos with Santa, go light seeing, and wrap all the gifts wayyy ahead of time! Oh, I also wanted to see the new Christmas movie, The Star! I mean, last Christmas wasn't like the trailer to Bad Mom's Christmas, (which I missed too, btw); I think this year I should make time for more celebration!

2016 did have time for some light seeing!

This photo was snapped in front of the Michigan City Library.

And this was taken in Washington Park, in Michigan City, as well. Isn't it inspiring to go see the lights? I don't need to hop on the bandwagon, cause Baby, I'm driving it!!! I LOVE seeing the results of people passionate about Christmas!

Look-- my kids are NOT fighting!

Just kidding. They probably were.

France got new jammies!

This Santa looks very familiar! :-)

Christmas 2016 at Mom's! Jean does her typical wrapping project, which means a bunch of wrapped boxes nested inside one BIG box--- so it's probably a gift card. :-)

It might be 2017 Christmas before she opens all these!

Ahh, it IS a gift card!!!

Jean is going to get surprised this Christmas, and she better have her unwrapping hands ready!!!

Mom might get Sudoku every year. I know she did this year, too.

Ohh, in 2016, Jean invited her boyfriend Rosco! I like his beard. They broke up.

Dinner was ham, mashed potatoes, veggies and of course--- a baked spaghetti (with sugar)! That has got to remain a traditional dish in my household!!! It's the BEST!

2016 New Years Eve was quiet and relaxing! Purrrr!

So, that brings us to 2017! Yes, I may have skipped half a year. Be prepared for photos from the past year and a half in the next post.

Labor Day 2016

2016-09-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hey! Get a job ya Lazy Bum!

Francey Pants is usually laying about the house. That is, when he's not to busy stealing ink pens and swatting them underneath furniture, never to be found again!

He's a motorcycle cat, equipped with his own kitty helmet! Safety First!

Did I ever show ya'All the Strawberry Shortcake blanket I made for Gladys when she was a baby? There's LOVE in the stitches!

Currently, I just finished doing some painting. I decided to change a RIP to Boo on the pumpkin. I find painting to be very relaxing. One of these days, I will do an artwork post.

I hope the birdies enjoy their new love shack! ;-)

Troy has been teaching me the inns and outs of basketball.

My latest lesson has been perfecting a slam dunk!

Troy has it down!!!

Troy is a guy of many talents. He recently took up trumpet playing.

On Labor Day there was a party at my house! Glenn grilled out pork chops, which is Jean's favorite thing! I have no idea what spices he put on them this time.

They were good though!

The mosquito's had a feast on Labor Day too! I found a Themacell on clearance at Walmart and as I was handing it to the cashier for purchase a skeeter was biting my arm! True Story! Smack 77, I keep a running count.

The grill was going, the sun was bright, and all that may have helped some, but I'm ready for sweater weather and falling leaves. I'm ready for the skeeters to be to cold to bite me.

The big event at our Labor Day party was Croquet.

It might have been Matt falling through the trampoline, but Gladys pushed him off before that could actually happen!

Mom's macaroni salad was a BIG hit too! I LOVE this stuff! It never lasts long at any of our family gatherings.

Croquet has been a favorite game of mine since I was old enough to play!

The terrain can play an interesting part in the game. Some people were trying to make paths for the ball to have an advantage.

We had ~~spectators~~ hecklers.

I won the croquet game! Troy played the victory tune!

At least Sophie congratulated me!

That evening, Jean and I went for a motorcycle ride.

Verrrrrrooooooom roooooom rommmmmm! :-)

Back to School

2016-08-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

The kiddies have started school this week!!! I took them to the doc, for the good ole check-ups, and they both passed with flying colors!

Remember the ole eye chart? That was my favorite part of check-ups since it was relatively painless.

Also, I totally ROCKED at reading the eye chart! I have my fingers crossed that holds true as I get older. Both kids did very well!

Poor Gladys had to have FOUR shots-- two in each arm!!! OUCH!

I was driving along down a rural country road, and noticed what I thought to be a cat floundering about. Of course, I stopped to rescue the poor cat, but it turned out to be just an empty Wal-mart bag!

Gladdie's 7th grade open house was a few days before school began.

She mastered the maze of hallways and found all her classes.

Then opened her locker a hundred times.

I carried out my motherly duties and embarrassed her. JK Seriously though-- Can I help it if I'm a social butterfly? Her geography teacher seemed like a fun guy! ;-)

On that magical morning of the first day of school, poor Troy didn't want to spend ALL DAY away from me. I'm sure it was cause he was going to miss me, sooo SAD.

Obviously, Gladys too, was all broken up about me having to cut those apron strings and send her on her way!

After struggling to break free of their clinging, I ran into the house and locked the door; then secretly spied on them. :-)

When what to my wondering eyes should appear? But a bright yellow school bus and FREEDOM my dear!

I totally enjoy myself a little "ME" time! After the kids left, I relished in the piece of quiet and then attempted to perfect my bowling skills! It was AWESOME!

Troy's open house was a couple days after the start of school. He showed me his classroom and I got to meet his teacher!

I knew right away which desk was Troy's, as I recognized his self portrait!
I really enjoy this time of year!