Best thing about a wintery March day

Well, the only thing good about a wintery March day is building "tall house" with grandson Jack (his words not mine.)

I think this boy is going to grow up to be an engineer. He is obsessed with buildings, lights, airplanes and trains. Well, that sounds about like most little boys doesn't it? He is also obsessively clean and tidy. No complaints from me there. Did I mention he is a great pig kisser. No he doesn't kiss pigs. The only way I can get this boy to be affectionate is to make pig sounds while kissing his soft chubby cheeks, thus pig kisses. A Grandma has to be creative.

Speechless

For some reason I have been locked out of my blog for a couple of weeks. My computer kept thinking I was trying to download something when I tried to access my blog and I gave up.

But now I am speechless and don't remember what I wanted to say anyways. A rare moment when I don't have anything to say or have an opinion.

Just as well though, because I have so much to do I really don't have time to blog right now. I barely can breath right now I am so exhausted with all that a new business entails, and it doesn't help that I have had a chronic case of bronchitis for 3 months that has now blossomed into pneumonia.

I broke down and am now taking antibiotics so hopefully my energy will return. Soon I hope!

Cruising thru America part two - oooh my gosh & oh my gosh

1792 Farmouse - New Jersey

Wait until you see inside!!!!!!!!!











I am loving those beams and floors. Modern yet so colonial!
They did a great job on this house.


And...it has almost 2 acres.
I am ready to move. I am in love.
Just one thing. The grandkids have to go too.


Oh, and here is the info on this historic house. This just makes me love it all the more. I mean George Washington. Are you kidding! Who wouldn't want to live there!!!!!!! And if Lott's lived in this house then we are almost like family.

Add in train and bus service to Manhattan....and well geez what are we waiting for????

Said to be Somerset County’s earliest Colonial dwelling, this pre-Revolutionary era home is a rare offering in the charming and historic Martinsville section of Bridgewater Township. The original section of this clapboard and wood shutter residence was built around 1723, with subsequent additions in the 1800s and 2007. Set on 1.68 park-like acres, the grounds feature stone walls, green lawns, a circular drive, brick walkways, a stream, gas-powered fire pit, rear deck and original stone spring house. Interior highlights include three wood burning fireplaces fitted with richly carved antique mantelpieces, four-panel Colonial style doors, exposed ceiling beams, period moldings, deep set windows, original wide plank wood flooring and stone walls. The country kitchen and two full baths were renovated in 2007. This welcoming home is entered through a front-to-back foyer with wide plank floors, stone walls and exposed beams. A library is anchored by a four-foot wide brick faced fireplace with wood mantel. The sunny kitchen and adjoining breakfast room present a seating bar topped in dark granite, an artisan-style copper farmer’s sink, a Jenn-Aire™ gas stove, stainless steel refrigerator, stainless steel dishwasher and hardwood floors. There is a lighted pantry with double door access, and French doors leading to the wrap around wood fenced patio. The main floor also offers a full bath and mud room. A cathedral ceiling hallway upstairs leads to four bedrooms, each with wide plank wood flooring. Of special note is the comfortable master bedroom which has an exposed brick wall. A full bath designed with granite and tile and a linen closet complete the second story. Local history says General George Washington and his troops had an encampment on the property for several months during the Spring and Summer of 1777, and Washington may have had his headquarters on a stone house that originally stood on the present-day foundation. That original stone house was built in 1723, making it one of Somerset County’s earliest dwellings. Reports from six generations of families who lived in the house said the former stone house burned down and was rebuilt in 1820. The home’s colorful history was outlined in “North of The Rariton Lotts: A History of the Martinsville, New Jersey Area,” published by The Martinsville Historical Committee. The Martinsville section of Bridgewater Township is an historic area known for its rolling fields and country manor homes. Bridgewater has an excellent school system. The prestigious Pingry private school is nearby. This residence offers a one-of-a-kind living experience in one of the most prestigious communities in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Train and bus service is available to Manhattan, and Routes 287, 78, 206 and 202 are nearby for commuting to the many business campuses and international corporations in the area. Contact Glory-Ann Drazinakis at her Weichert Oldwick Office, 908-439-2777 x 116 or via her cell at 908-256-4304. Additional information can be obtained via her web site at GLORYANN.com.

Cruising through America

When husband and I were dating many many moons ago, we drove to Walla Walla on a beautiful sunny spring day to fall in love in Pioneer Park. We then drove around the older part of town to look at all the lovely old houses. We even drove clear into someone's drive that wrapped around the back of their house and back out onto the tree lined street. The owners peered out the window at us wondering what the hay, and we waved as we drove by laughing. Crazy kids!

We have done that ever since. Not drive through peoples drives, but whenever we go to any town, anywhere in the world we go to the older parts of town and look at the sweet and beautiful older homes (we have only been to the US and Canada, but that is irrelevent because we would do in Sweden too!)

We have done it in British Columbia, Mesa, AZ, and on every island of Hawaii we have visited and so on. It is one of our favorite things to do and something we both share, love of home, ours and others. We dream of going to Europe and being lookie-loos at all the old homes and their gardens. When we love a movie it is because it usually has a wonderful setting with a cool old home. If we ever built a new home it wouldn't look new, it would look a hundred years old, at least.

Today whilst I am homebound and too sick to even brush my hair (you thought I was going to say teeth huh? that would be yuk!) I am cruising America on one of my favorite websites OldHouse.com. If you are a lover of old homes you may want to take a cruise some time.

This is a cute Dutch Colonial.

I especially like the really colonial ones like this one from 1690. I seem to be especially drawn to the ones in rural NY. And some are crazy cheap like this old church in central New York for $99k. They describe it as in being a little hamlet. Oooooh. I have always wanted to live in a hamlet.


Another thing I love about this site is that you can look at the homes be style, such as American Foursquare or Bungalow or Cape Cod. They have them all. I generally like the more simple styles such as saltbox, cape cod or colonial, but every once in a while there will be a beautiful Georgian Colonial like this one in Tacoma that could steal my heart. The Moore Mansion is a Georgian Colonial and she has a special place in my heart. I am so happy someone has restored and loved her into glory again. We like to ride our bikes down and just stare at her some times.

I don't know for sure where this love of homes and architecture came from, but my fraternal grandmother lived in a modest yet grand older home in the town where both my grandparents lived. Her home was a sharp contrast to the home my mother grew up in which was a 100 years old, but lacked any real style since it was orignially a hospital is what I was told (but I still loved it - especially before it was modernized through various remodels.) When my father's widowed mother remarried she moved into her lovely old home just a couple blocks over from my mother's girlhood home. So I could hop from grandma to grandma's house in a flash. One was on C St and the other F St. Isn't that interesting just naming streets with alphabet names?

Her home had hardwood floors in the very large dining room (people used to sit down and eat dinner together - can you believe that?) It also had leaded glass windows, built in bookcases next to the fireplace and mirrored french doors for closets. I can also recall loving the charming old homes in my home town of Seattle when I was just a wee child. I noticed the difference in house styles by neighborhoods and had even expressed a desire to be an architect when I was 9. I was very good at math and my mother told me someone with those skills would be a good architect. I suppose the fact that my grandparents lived in old neighborhoods, and when I lived in West Seattle I lived in old neighborhoods my have influenced me. I know that when we moved here I thought the homes were pretty style-less, except in downtown Kennewick.

I have always dreamed of living in a house made of stone, now I have a lot of stone with my floor to ceiling fireplace which I love, but a house made of stone. How charming is that.? There are two older homes in my town that are made with stones, at least in part, and one is half buried underground. That has always fascinated me. Back east stone is a common element in homes, especially colonial homes like this one here. A girl can dream can't she? What kind of home would be your dream home? I actually really like my home so I am pretty satisfied, but I still like to look. Do you?

(Husband just talked to his twin brother who is working in Cleveland, OH for the next month and he was in the parking lot eating his lunch at a nuclear plant in a full out blizzard. Would you like that on February 19th?)

Breaking up

Yesterday I thought I needed to head on down to the local coffin parlor and purchase myself a pine box. Seriously I thought this was the end of life on Ruby St.

I have had this nagging lung aggravation for 3 months now and have such a distaste for doctor's offices after spending what seemed like two lifetimes sitting in them when I was going through the worst of my bodies fight for health a few years ago. I also am not a fan of drugs. I know drugs have their place, but I have been given so much for so many years that my body just makes a candy coating around infection to wall it off rather than get rid of it. So finally being near death I resolved to load my sick body into my car in the wee hours of the morning (anything that has a 6 am in it is wee for me) and drove myself down to my local voodoo doctor in big "H" town.

Dr. Kris (Peterson) knows when he sees me I must be near death because I always wait til the bitter end to come to him. I wish I would learn to be more prompt where my health is concerned, but no, I have to wait until I am desperate. It makes him look more impressive anyways when he can bring this pale sickly body back to life. The man is a genius.

But I don't like to just rely on Dr. Kris' mad natural chemistry skills and I called in the Priesthood for a blessing.

20 herbal pills later (did you know that Bamboo is a natural antibiotic?), a beautiful and comforting Priesthood blessing, a fairly restful nights sleep and a day off work and I am feeling a little more alive and little less near death today. My lungs are breaking up and I decided I kind of like it here and am not ready to make my exit.

So I am thankful today for doctors with natural abilities (and the other kind too - they have their place), a husband and a son worthy to give me a Priesthood blessing


and for a cozy home to rehab in.

And also an understanding and supportive boss that said take all the time you need. Dr. Almond really is too good to me. I don't know what I ever did to deserve him.

Also.

Dr Kris said I have to break up with pizza.



When he put a couple little vials in my hand and I my arm became as limp as my frosted hosta leaves outside in the freezing cold there was no arguing. He asked "you know what they are?" I was in denial, but I knew, sure enough he lifted them where I could read them, and they were my old friends wheat and dairy. It isn't just pizza I have to break up with. It's crusty loaves too. He said not for forever. But since I fell off the healthy food wagon a year ago I have put my body back into that frail defenseless state, and it is going to take some time time to get my liver and immune system back up to speed to be able to handle an occasional fling with my lover Papa John.

Neil Sedaka was so right.

Breaking up is hard to do.

A new meaning to rustic living

Call me crazy, or call me crazy, but my new life as an entrepreneur has required me to rustify my home even more than it already was. It wasn't enough to have animals and birds on my walls, now I have a forest for them to dwell in as well.

You ask what is this craziness? It is preparation for the home show in a couple of weekends. One of the contractors requested that there be buds on his trees and bushes and lacking a proper greenhouse the trees and bushes are taking up temporary residence here in my dining room and my son's living room down the road.




(I know what you are thinking. What kind of animals are those peering through the trees? Well it is a bear on the left and an antelope right smack in the middle.)






I pray these trees respond to the warmth of my hearth and burst out green or this is all in vane. What we don't do for a buck huh? These are hard times so you gotta go the extra mile to please the customer.

(I spent many a dollar and lots of times traipsing through nurseries and I don't recall this kind of customer service. I hope he appreciates this.)

Geez, that goose is trying to land in my trees. ;-)

I had to hide the ceiling fan remote from the Jackaroni because he has an obsession with turning the fan on and off, and I need the height to stay on these trees.

The Tooth Fairy

I was reading my darling daughter's blog yesterday about her problems with the tooth fairy! I noticed that her commentors also had similar problems with this undependable little gal. Dang that tooth fairy!

Well I am here to tell you that while it is adorable to put the tooth in a cute little pillow or under the child's head, everyone, I mean everyone from my generation and before knows that the tooth fairy is a water loving gal. She absolutely cannot resist a tooth submerged in water. She especially likes them in a cute little shot glass that is set right in front of a sink, as in bathroom or kitchen sink (you know the kind of sinks that Mom's and Dad's frequent often.)

She is absolutely not afraid to get her little fairy wings wet and I do not ever recall a night that she did not take the bait! I could be mistaken though since I can hardly remember if I ate breakfast in the morning. But I bet if you try this little trick you will catch some serious tooth fairy bling, as it is most appropriately called today.

I hope this helps all you young moms and dads!

Happy fairy hunting!