Travels

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. It has been a crazy month! I will get around to see everyone asap! We have had a few trips, and the contractors didn't leave until yesterday after almost six weeks here! Our last trip was to Reno, Nevada for the Hearth Show Convention. I am not a big Reno fan so I thought if we flew into Sacramento (couple hour drive) we might stop in Napa for a day, or Tahoe, or something like that. We did get away for an afternoon hike up in the mountains above Reno but sadly that is all.
We did have fun with our peers, and I had a great time playing hockey at the Canadian groups reception. We have always tagged along with some Canadian manufacturers...

It was a much smaller show this year. What usually takes three days to do justice, we accomplished in one this year. The economy affects us all. Gas companies were most noticeably missing. Lennox wasn't there at all, along with Peterson and many other gas log folks. HHT's companies were all in one booth where they used to be in four different ones, and larger companies that used to have indoor booths as well as outdoor burn displays picked one or the other...
We did see the first European Boiler at a US show. The Froling Pellet Boiler is a leader in Germany. We had the privilege to meet Herr Froling in Austria at the World Pellet Conference several years back. Other than that not much new or exciting. A new zero clearance pellet insert.

We were treated to a wonderful dinner by our good friends and suppliers at Lauzon. They have excellent taste in restaurants (and company ;). We had a decadent steak dinner, with some of the best wine I think I had ever had, a table made Caesar salad, the guys had oysters, and truffles topped it off.

I need a long hot bath!

Here we go again. In our relentless pursuit to drag this old house into the 21st century we decided to tackle the upstairs bathroom. This was actually the first room we "re-did" when we first moved in but it was a quickie job and so many things have changed since then. So time to re-do our re-do. We actually used the bathroom and the walk in closet for the new bath. A new closet was made for the bedroom.

Yeah, the bathroom's up there. Our contractors wasted no time letting me know the scope of the project by ripping the ceiling out of the sitting room below... and the walls had to come down too, of course.
In no time they had taken over both sides of the garage, the two bedrooms and laundry room adjacent the bath, the dining room and sitting room of course, and our bedroom :( All the bath stuff we needed went to the main bathroom, and bath stuff we didn't need ended up between the laundry room, and guest bath. All the furniture they evicted ended up in the great room and bar, and artwork was in the guest room. Luckily? this is our busy traveling time, but when we were home we had to sleep in the loft or the now-crowded guest room.
When the guys were tearing down the walls they did come across some goodies. They found my marbles!! I thought they were lost forever! HA! I crack myself up ;-) They also found two Benjamins. They were supposed to take a ski trip with it, but haven't found the time yet! Tick, tick, tick...
Since we were ripping out windows in the bathroom (great way to cram the new stuff in btw...) and the sitting room was torn to shreds anyway we decided to go ahead and finish replacing windows on the old side of the house... The Bobcat got it's workout lifting the tub, drywall, etc...
Blizzie supervised, of course!
Then the tile went down, and paint was chosen. Then when the paint dried purple I painted again!
Now we are missing one floor tile (see above) but the tub is delightful with southern sun pouring in all day :-)
Missing hinges for last cabinet door then done! Note I have already started cramming the cabinets and drawers full anyway! The granite countertop has bright blue flecks in it that I adore!
The steamy thing as our trusty contractor calls it is the focal point. With an overhead shower, a steam generator, built in radio and massage jets it has been a lot of fun! Of course, Art was sicker than a dog when we put it in so it was me and two contractors huffing and grunting to put all those glass pieces together! A day and a half later it was worth it! Too fun!
But the coup de gras, the cherry on top, the pride and joy is our beloved stained glass window. Designed by my Dad P, and made by Mom and Dad K for us. It is in the hallway gathering light from the southern windows over the tub...

Ski weekend

Each year for Christmas the K siblings have agreed to take a weekend trip somewhere instead of doing the whole gift thing...
This year the trip was to Mount Snow in Vermont. I do not ski (by adamant choice), but there are plenty of other things to do. We rented a great house that fit us all, and had a great time. Even A made it up from NYC. It was her birthday, too!
We went to Bennington On St. Patty's day, had beer, went to a stove shop open house where we got the great idea of cooking corned beef on the pellet grill (delish!!), and watched the local parade.

Blizz-Adorable to BLIZZARD-ora

The day we brought our little puffball home she was so tiny!
She was good at cleaning her shiny coat although we still weren't sure if she would have short or long hair! Her tail seemed way too big for her little body!
She was very playful! She could make a toy out of anything, and wanted to be a part of whatever whoever was doing!
She grew so quickly! Before we knew it a year had passed! Then our little puffball turned into a bathmat! A nearly 15 pound bathmat! (yeah that's her... laying on her Malamute pal's woobie!!)
She still loves to play but you now have to be careful! She is a biter! Thank goodness she doesn't use her claws- on people! Couches are still a different matter-Gggrrrr....
She used to snuggly up with us while we did our morning computer business... now she kicks the computer off of my lap so that she can have snuggle time!
She is the biggest bundle of fluff and is a trouble-maker through and through but I just love my Blizzardora!

Here is a short vid of her playing with Art- such as it is :-)
... and no- It's not all fluff!

Perspective

Obama has a 3.7 Trillion dollar budget proposed for next year. This will leave the deficit over 1 Trillion dollars. How much is that- really?
This is a visual example of what all of these bailouts and this spendulus will leave us owing...

Start with a hundred dollar bill. Most of us have seen a few of these in our time.


A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Imagine the fun you could have in Vegas with this little package!


This next image is of One Million Dollars (100 packets of $10,000). Not as impressive as I thought...

One Hundred Million dollars is a little more impressive and stacks nicely on a pallet.

Now we are up to One Billion Dollars. This is starting to look like something...



Now for a TRILLION...

This is that number we've been hearing about so much.
What is a trillion dollars?
Well, it's a million million.
It's a thousand billion.
It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

Who turned the lights on?

First I thought I would share a little video of my darling Elliot saying a friendly "Good Morning" in his own roostery way! He is afraid of the camera still so he doesn't attack on cue! LOL! I'm sure it won't last but it's working for now!!





I got my adorable baby chicks last June. I wasn't sure if they would lay any eggs until spring because they take from four to six months to start laying, but many stop for the winter.











On my birthday last year one of my nieces found the first egg laid :)








They have been laying two to four eggs a day. This is perfect! I have two eggs a few times a week for breakfast. Ody has an egg every few days, as does Polar... I have been leaving the light on all day and turn it off at night at about seven or seven thirty which many said would keep them laying. Others said it was having Elliot that encouraged them!


The holidays I made deviled eggs all the time! What a great appetizer to bring and share! Then winter set in and I started baking! I found a great quasi-quiche that had eggs and sweet vidalia onions, egg salad, hard boiled eggs, omelets...

Occasionally I would bring a dozen in for one of our guys, I would bring my Deputy Treasurer a dozen for helping when I was gone, or if we went to visit family I would bring some eggs.



Well, something happened this week!

Someone must have turned on the light switch! They jumped from two to four to SEVEN eggs a day- from seven girls!

Holy batman!

They are burying me fast now!
You are looking at four days of eggs minus the four I have used to make cookies the last couple of days!

I declared Thursday (when we have our store meetings) Bring an Egg Carton to Work Day! That way I can bring my basket of eggs and get rid of four or five dozen! (one guy is on holiday, and another out for sick kids...I'll get them later!)
I am going to have to come up with a long term plan!
I could start a candle-making company!
Or an Easter Egg Factory!!
Furniture??
At least I don't have to shop for eggs anymore!!

Pay it Forward

Thanks Nikki from Blah, Blah, Blah, blog for paying it forward...

My turn. Singapore has a Kindness week and Pay it Forward Day on April 7. We are starting a little early!

A "Pay it forward" That takes the pressure off. You get a whole year to do whatever you want...buy or hand make. I love having plenty of time to plan and no stress getting in a hurry!!!

The first three people who want to respond , will get something made or bought by me. My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:


1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make or buy!
2- What I do will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.


The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on their blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did ...win a FAB-U-LOUS gift by me! Who's in?

Not the first, second, or third person? That doesn't mean you can't pay it forward! Pay it forward :)