My favorite time of the year

It is really is starting to feel - and smell - like fall here in Texas - and it's my favorite time of the year. I guess there are just certain things this time of year that really remind me of growing up in Minnesota, like the smell of crisp night air, falling leaves and cinnamon apples. I have such great memories of my Mom's cooking - and since we had a huge apple orchard behind our home - most of the baking & cooking revolved around apples. She was always baking apple pie, making apple sauce, apple bars, and whatever else she could think of with the crop that those trees produced. I try to treat myself to my favorite tea whenever I can - and there is nothing better in my humble opinion to take me back to those special memories than this:

New Kitchen

I love the look of the finished new tile floors, back splash and counter tops in the kitchen. It took longer than we had planned, and eating out got a bit old & expensive, but I'm very thankful to have it all completed. Perfect timing for the 12 people we are planning on hosting for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I do need to re-decorate a few things - the old tired blue accents have got to go - so guess what will be on my Christmas wish list this year ;-)

Getting some work done

While the contractors are working on the kitchen, I've been working on my Christmas cards. Still a lot to do - for both things - but it's coming along - and progress is being made. We'll be eating out for the next few days - but it is looking good so far.

I have about 10 cards done - but I need about 30 more. I love stamping, and have a big selection of stamps, but I kind of got away from it in the past few years. Lately it's been so much more fun doing it using my Copic markers. I took a Copic 101 class last June - and learned so much. I feel just like a kid again who went off to school with a huge box of brand new crayons.

More R&R

I wish R&R means rest & relaxation right now, but unfortunately, for our family recently, it means repairs & renovations. We had ANOTHER water damage event 2 weeks ago - the culprit was the hot water heater in the garage - and it leaked under the wall and into the breakfast nook area in the house and damaged the wood floors. So, we are in the middle of replacing the floors (thanks to our insurance company once again), and also decided to upgrade our counter tops to granite in the process.

We had planned to do that in the future - but with all the work going on - we thought we could get it all done in one shot. We have a great contractor who has helped us in the past - and we were thankful he could help us this time as well. The hardest part was deciding what color of granite to choose, but after a few discussions, Jeff settled on exactly what I wanted - imagine that ;-) I'll post pictures of the finished project once it's completed - but here is a photo of the granite "we" picked. I can't wait for it all to be finished.

Back to school time

Not sure yet if I'm happy or sad about the girl's heading back to school. Katie started back this morning - 7th grade already - and it's amazing how grown up she looked heading out the door. The days of having her hair perfectly curled and wearing the perfect outfit are here. Oh joy ;-) Teresa moved into her new apartment over the weekend - but she is only 45 minutes from home - so not too far to drive when she needs something. She's already been home once - picking up a few things she forgot. She couldn't do that when she was at Mizzou.

I know I'll have some much needed quiet time during the day, and time to get back into my routine and get some things done - but I'll miss them - but I'm very proud of both my independent girls.

All Finished

I'm so thankful the renovations in our master bathroom are done - just in time for a very luxurious and long soaking shower this morning for my birthday. Here is the finished product - I love it!

Holy blog post Batman!

Man, has it really been 5 months since I last posted to my blog? I have been bad & I feel bad. And not really sure about the reason. I could say how busy I have been, and that I have had no time, but that would not be completely correct - I guess not too much worth posting about, and I've just been lazy about keeping it up.

Life has changed a little bit for the Rodriguez household in the past 5 months. We managed to get through the spring and the end of the school year without any problems, and Jeff returned home from his 3 year long assignment in Africa at the end of June. It's so good to have our family back together under 1 roof again. I hope we never have to be separated for that long again. He is still working for Dyncorp Intl., but is working based from here instead of overseas. He is still very much involved with projects in Africa, and may travel again for quick visits, but I can handle that.

We took a few vacations & trips after he came home, one to Va. Beach for a friend's wedding, and we took our annual trip to Mexico last month. While we were gone to Va. beach we had some water damage in the house from a broken toilet tank in our master bathroom, but luckily Teresa was home that weekend, and was able to turn off the water & do some of the clean up with the help of some great neighbors, and she was able to minimize the damage. We did have to place an insurance claim once we got home, and we are just about done with the master bathroom renovations. I'll be so happy once it's finished. Here is a before & in-progress shot:





I'll post the finished photos once the custom shower doors are installed, and I finish with the decor. I really love the new tile look - and it was much less expensive than we thought it would be.

More soon.... I promise!
Sonja