Family time

It has been a super week for family.  Monday, Beckie showed Steve and me one of her favorite antique malls in the area.  We spent a couple of hours wandering around all the booths.  Beckie bought a pyrex bread pan and a ceramic colander and we bought a couple of bundles of Golden Books.  We found a couple of aprons with really funny sayings but we didn't buy them...

Tuesday was Larkin pre-school

And that evening, Kirsti, Ryan and Alice arrived from Utah for a visit!  We went to the zoo on Wednesday morning and Beckie was able to join us.  Thursday morning, we took a walk around the neighborhood (Alice looks like she has a Harry Potter wand in the photo in front of the inflatable jack-o-lantern) and then we went to Emily's in the afternoon for a socially distanced dinner in the back yard.  It was fun to see Alice interract with Larkin with the help of bottles of bubbles.

We drove west to spend Friday and Saturday in Columbia.  We stayed with Steven and Tamara and we saw Melanie and Elise on Friday.  Melanie gave Alice a little tiara and a string of pearls which she wore most of the day on Saturday....until she changed into her black cat costume for the pandemic- appropriate Trunk or Treat we had in the meetinghouse parking lot Saturday afternoon back in St. Louis.

We took a quick trip up to the Amish stores Saturday morning with to stock up on gluten free supplies, etc. and Alice was told she could have a treat.  She chose a bag of candy corn and enjoyed eating almost a third of the bag on the way home!  

It has been so great to get to know Alice.  She is such an articulate and smart three-year old.  And, we get to have her and her parents through this coming Thursday so look for more photos in next week's blog.....

 

To Indiana and back

Steve and I drove to visit Julina and Alex in Indianapolis last Sunday afternoon through Tuesday evening.  The plan was to help move the ball along on the guest bathroom remodel project in the two days were were there.  I can't say we did much on that front.  Neither Steve nor I are good at drywall or plumbing.  And, we couldn't really do painting because a part of the drywall next to the mirror still needed some drywall patching.  It had been started by Stratton but there were sections that still needed some building up with the joint compound.  I attempted to do some of that Monday afternoon and it is definately harder than it looks to make everything smooth.  And, it takes at least 24 hours to dry so on Tuesday afternoon I had hoped to sand and paint but alas, it needed more compound.  So, aside from helping Julina get more sandpaper for the electric sander, some primer paint and paint brushes, we really didn't do much to move that bathroom project forward.  I think Alex is just going to hire someone to finish the job rather than try to have Stratton do it under his coaching.  Good idea!  What we DID accomplish was to have a lovely visit with Julina....and Alex as well when he was feeling up to it.  Fall colors in southern Illinois and in Indiana were at their peak.  We got in a couple of good walks with Banjo.  Steve and had dinner at a Culvers with Shiloh Tuesday evening on our way out of town.  Oh, and we got a new catalytic converter....not that we really wanted one but ours was cut off in the wee hours of Monday morning in the hotel parking lot!  They are made with precious metals making them of value on the black market and SUVs (like our Honda Element) have a higher carriage making them easier to crawl under to steal.   We started the car Monday morning and thought a loud motorcycle had started at the same time.  It was so LOUD.  Happily, USAA took good care of us and we had it in the shop by noon Monday and were provided with a rental car until it was repaired Tuesday noon.  

  

We got home around 10 in the evening on Tuesday and hit the ground running the next day.  St. Louis had a windstorm while we were gone and our driveway and front lawn were covered with long pine needles from the next door tree.  I raked/swept up just a fraction.   (we had more wind through the week and someday soon, Steve and I will need to tackle both the front and back yards with rakes.  We don't have any trees on our own property but the neighbor's trees to the west are sharing leaves and needles with us) Additional insulation was scheduled to be blown in that morning.  The city water division was to come by to update the room/bathroom count in our house.  Steve had an appointment at the bank for a notary signature.  We had laundry to do and a few shopping errands to accomplish.  I got my flu shot.  Steve didn't get his because of clerical issues but he should be able to get his at no cost when he visits his doctor in a week.  It was a busy day and by the evening, we were ready to sit back and watch the Netflix original movie Enola Holmes.  It was very good.

Larkin came to preschool on Thursday since we were still in Indiana on Tuesday.  I pulled out some stringing beads and below are our creations....

She always eats her lunch with us before Emily picks her up.  This week, however, she stayed and watched a bit of Ratatouille with Steve while I caught a quick nap.  Then, I drove her back home and gave music lessons to her brothers and sister.  That night, it was quintet rehearsal.  Long day....

Friday was virtual cello lessons and house cleaning and a watching of the first Harry Potter movie that night.  

I found more spring bulbs on clearance at Walmart so I finished planting my daffodil bed in the back yard and I will have some hyacinths and crocus to plant in front in the coming weeks.  While puttering in the back yard, I noticed that there were some bricks embedded in the lawn.  They were so camoflaged that even Steve didn't notice them as he mowed!  As I dug them up, I realized that there were quite a few bricks buried just below the surface layed out in a circle so I dug them up, too.  I have uncovered thirteen so far and I believe there might be more to finish a circular bed that existed sometime in the past.  Crazy.  We finished out our week by feeding dinner to the five (yes, FIVE) missionaries assigned to our ward on Saturday evening.  We grilled hamburgers and ate on our back deck since, with the rise in Covid numbers, they are not allowed to go into member's houses.  It was somewhat breezy but happily, temperatures were pleasant.  I spent part of Saturday making a broccoli salad (which was hardly touched by the boys) and a chocolate cream pie (which they loved). Also that day, Steve and I endeavored to identify what was on all the circuits on our breaker box on Saturday.  The brilliant electrician who initially labeled them only wrote "lights and outlets" on them all.  So, we turned on all the lights and while Steve flipped switches, I identified which room (s) went dark.  Because he was downstairs and I upstairs, we talked on our cell phones.  It worked pretty well.   We finished up the night watching the last half of Ratatouille that Steve and Larkin started.  

We continue to make progress with the "settling in" process.....changing our address in various platforms, sorting through things, discovering new places in our neighborhood....and we now have doctor and dentist appointments coming up.  Through it all, we continue to fall in love with our new home and our new life here in St. Louis. 

 

Falling for October

 Our week began where Monday seemed like Saturday with activities not usual to a weekday.  In the morning, we joined Emily and the four grandchildren on an outing to Eckerts apple orchard just over the river in Illinois.  It was a crisp sunny autumn day - perfect for such an activity.  Eckerts has three locations - it is a huge operation - and they have everything down to a science.  And, with Covid 19 this year, they even had that down.  Face masks, social distancing, the works.  And, so, we boarded a tractor pulled wagon and rode first to the apple trees that were just loaded with gorgeous apples of many varieties.  I got to fill my bag with my favorite Fuji apples.  Next, we rode the wagon to the pumpkin patch where the kids just played on the hay bales since we all already have our pumpkins.  Steve and I walked over to the thornless blackberries and admired how they were trellising them.  Finally, we got on the wagon to head back to pay for the apples and walk through the large country store.  We drove back to our backyard for lunch on our deck.  That afternoon, I made chocolate ice cream to bring to dinner that was hosted by Kyle and Micah and cooked by Beckie.  Everything was so delicious (of course - Beckie was the chef!) and we played two rounds of dominoes to finish out the evening.  

Tuesday was delightful in the morning because it was Larkin pre-school.  The afternoon was not so fun as I wrangled with our current bank and with WiFi issues (I stupidly decided to change the name and password of our WiFi on Sunday and so I was having device connecting issues). I was so stressed as I drove to my quintet rehearsal that evening but, happily, playing my cello helped smooth out the knots and I drove home a much happier Jeanne.

Wednesday we had new brakes put on our Honda Element. Pricey but a necessary evil. We got to drive around in a pretty nice loaner - a late model Honda CRV - while shopping for groceries and while getting a better digital antenna at Best Buy. Steve can finally watch Jeopardy again which makes me so happy! Back in our old Element, I drove to Creve Couer to meet up with the exiting administrator for the St. Louis Civic Orchestra (whom I have known since Columbia days) and to take over the reins as the new administrator. I am told it will only be about 10-12 hours per month of work and I will be paid $250.00 per month. I hope it all works out. Of course, right now, the entire orchestra is not meeting so my work load will be minimal for the time being. I have written, though, that small ensembles from the group are meeting in socially distancing approved ways to rehearse and we have obtained a date and location to perform later this month.

Thursday was Southerland lesson day and, on the way, we stopped at a west county Habitat Re-Store and found a small lightweight bakers rack that we will use in the garage and a 50 foot hose since our 100 foot one doesn't go all the way to the back of the yard. I planted 90 daffodil bulbs in the flower bed by the garage and they needed a good drink before going to sleep for the winter. I have more bed to plant so I will be getting more daffodils this week.

Friday, Steve and I braved the DMV and got our Real ID licenses. It was fairly painless and quick, surprisingly. I taught two cello lessons. We had someone come give us an estimate for attic insulation. Currently, we only have about 5 inches of insulation - YIKES. So, we will have a more energy efficient home with more insulation.

Saturday was a hodge podge of little projects: the bookcases in the library are now completely loaded and organized. We have a new curtain made from a lace tablecloth hanging in our bedroom. The baker's rack is now functioning in the garage. Steve worked on part of our chain link fence and on shoring up the middle of our deck. I hung hooks on the deck to put hanging plants. I repaired a broken clock with new workings from Hobby Lobby. We watched Steve's October movie "Cars". Speaking of movies, we also watched "The Fox and the Hound" and "Pirates of the Caribbean-On Stranger Tides" earlier in the week. We have now completed our Pirates watching odyssey.

I need to close as we are driving to visit Julina and Alex this afternoon but one photo of Larkin as a superhero is needed.....

Tour of the house

 This week, the piano got serviced and tuned, we opened up checking and savings accounts at a new bank, and I started sewing for a new Days For Girls group.  We watched three more Pirates of the Caribbean movies and have just one left to go.  We took lovely daily bike rides around our new neighborhood.  We enjoyed the Saturday sessions of General Conference yesterday with Melanie Johnsen who drove in from Columbia for the weekend (our first houseguest).  But, in this blog, I want to introduce our new home:

our front door and our side door.  Next spring, I will have pots of flowers and herbs on the right side of the side door steps.  The close up of the rocks that we have collected over the years.  I think I might line up outside window sills with them once the window people come to do their fixing.

Here is a view of the house from the garage with a closeup of the deck.  Also a view of our garage waaaaay in the back of our property.  The only yard work I have done so far is to extend an already existing iris bed further to plant the saved iris rhyzomes I brought from Columbia.  I might have pushed it as far as storing them so I am not really sure they were viable when I planted them.  I guess time and next spring will tell....  I have also dug up grass around the garage and back by the gate to plant daffodils and later zinnias .

Our living room and kitchen/dining room.  The living room is where I teach my cello lessons using the chairs by the window.  Someday, we might swap out the pink couches for a sectional....maybe.  We bought the island and the metal shelves in the kitchen to provide additional storage space.  There is a wall curio shelf that will go above the table but we failed in our attempt to install it so we'll have to get a professional to do it.

Just off the dining area is the libary/family history room.  Chock full of books, CDs, DVDs, and shelves and tubs of family history (including in the closet).  My beloved organ-turned-desk is also there.  Next door is the  TV/sewing room.

At the back of the house is our bedroom and the full master bath.  There is also a full bathroom off of the hallway with a linen closet.  We have two additional closets off of the hall which we use as pantries.  

The downstairs  - so much room for everything!  Laundry area, tubs of holiday decor, food storage, Steve's trains and sports, toy area, our guest bedroom (to eventually have two additional walls to enclose it) and our huge guest bathroom complete with two cedar lined closets.

The basement windows are glass tiles to allow great light.  There are large ledges to display some of our many, many knic knacks.

Finally, our garage that is surprisingly large.  There is plenty of room for a car, bikes, tools, and garden supplies.