Front Door

I know - three posts in one day! Well, yes. Who knows maybe I'll set a record and do 4!

Anyway, last week we had a new front door put on the house. Our old one had just a half moon window at the top and was painted red. We are trying to decide to leave it white or should we paint it red again?

Feng Shui, for those that are interested, states that a West (ours) facing door should be painted white for good chi. Red is fine as a general, but really best for south facing doors (which ours is not)

Any opinion on a color for the door? If you leave your comment on the blog - others can read it too!

Part 2 - Michigan Weekend

After leaving Schoolcraft, we headed back to Galien for Apple picking. We tried out a different place from years past. It was called Springhope Farm. The owners were super friendly and the orchard was lovely. There was even an area of picnic tables where we sat to eat.

The kids enjoyed running in the orchard and picking the apples from the trees. The day was perfect. The weather was nice, the kids were good and the bees stayed away! Paula and I were just sorry our hubbies couldn't make it for the day.

Part 1 - Michigan weekend

We spent this past Sunday in Michigan. We were going to just go as far as Galien to go apple picking but Steve really wanted to go back to Schoolcraft and so we all decided to go. We had two gas hogs for the road, packed them up and left for the 2 1/2 hour ride. We stopped at the McDonalds in Schoolcraft (Can you believe they have one!) before heading off to the cemetary. There's not too many more grave sites since 1983 but there are a few. My kids enjoyed figuring out the ages of the deceased. Off to the old homestead we went.

Not much had really changed in town. A few more homes than when we lived there but nothing earth shattering. We drove down the long dirt road until we came to our old home. The first thing we noticed were the large storage buildings built on the property and that the driveway had been moved. All the plantings from when we lived there were large too!

Paula wanted me to walk up to the door and I said no since I didn't call first and to me it looked like no one was home. Well guess what? I was wrong. Mary went to the door and after doing her boogie dance (a must see) a lady answered the door. Lois Mathis, the woman who purchased the home from us answered. Paula came out of the truck and sobbing, asked if we could go around to see the back yard. Lois, kindly said come on in and see the house! We were floored when we went in. The basement is exactly the same. Nothing has changed accept for Mike's room. It now has an egress window and a pipe to exit radon. The fire stove was changed from wood burning to gas, but everything - carpet, our playroom with the chalk boards, the bookshelf secret door, is all the same. Upstairs, my bedroom was the same (and looked great), so was the main hall bath, minus the carpeting. The kitchen was remodeled and has no table just a tall island. Some door openings were changed and all the dark woodwork was painted white, even the mantle Dad had made. No more cave walls in the parents room. There was a sweet addition added to the house. A three season room over the patio area. It was really nice.

Sorry I don't have more pictures. I was taking it in, speaking with Lois and her husband, while watching my kids. Plus even though I asked if I could take pictures - it felt weird since it's not our home.

The back yard looked great. Some rows of bushes removed and no more rose bushes, but the clementis my Dad planted 25+ years ago was still there! Of course the windows, roof and siding has all been updated. The well was redug 5 years ago since our original one dried up, but Lois and her husband Paul were so nice. They were glad to have us. It was so generous for them to open their home to us. We had a few tears and just felt great seeing the place.

Rain you can stay, we had fun anyway!

My cousin Chelsea was married this weekend in the rain. It was a beautiful setting at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Thankfully the rain was light for the ceremony. It didn't matter, Chelsea was breath taking and the grounds were still very lovely. Chelsea's dress was the most beautiful dress I've ever seen with embroidered flowers edging the train and the bodice.




These are pictures from inside and outside the conservatory. The musicians had to move inside to protect their instruments from the wetness. The music poored out onto the grounds. My sister, Paula posing by the very large leaves on this plant for me. She looked great with her new shorter hair style.

The reception was lovely too. My camera did not take any good pictures inside though. Arturas and Chelsea had many traditional touches, both Polish and Lithuanian. It made the day very special for all. Arturas had family that flew in from Lithuania for the special day. It was a lot of fun!

Kick'n back

Annabelle started her fall soccer season. We have no problem finding her team mates this year. The color "watermelon" is quite the color! Finding Annabelle is easy too, she's usually the tallest one on the field. Annabelle loves playing defense and can kick a pretty mean ball. It's so funny, for a quick moving game these pictures show a lot of standing around?!?? This is a fun league and not for competition which makes it low stress and fun to watch the girls actually learn the sport.

After the game, Annabelle was working on teaching Mojo a few tricks. It's amazing what a dog will do for praise and treats. Or if you put a hula hoop in front of the door! Mojo's favorite game still is catching tennis balls bounced off the rock wall of the swing set. He's starting to catch more and more. Who know's we may have a circus act in the family!

Happy pet, happy owners

"Mojo sit". "Mojo, come". "No, Mojo". "Staayayay, Mojo". "Good boy, Mojo!" These are the words we hear at our house these days! We are enjoying our newest addition to the family. We like to think Mojo is enjoying being part of our family too. He's really a lot of fun to play with. He loves the tennis balls outside. We've been bouncing them off the rock wall on our swingset and he's been starting to catch the ball from the air with his mouth!

Mojo likes to play hide and seek with the kids too. Annabelle really like this game with Mojo. Mojo is a great dog. We feel really lucky to have him. We are so glad we got our Mojo!!!