A walk down fiddlers lane 2006-2008

Things I am thankful for

1. New mini blinds on three windows in my house where there were previously none. I used to not want them, but I've been feeling like our house is exposed at night and wanted some cover. Plus I like the way the evening light is filtering through them into the living room right now.

2. Mid-week trips to the beach and museum with only your husband. Also eating here.

3. Sugar snap peas are in full harvest right now. Yum! I like picking things straight from the vine and eating it.

4. On that note--I have SEVERAL green tomatoes. We planted large plants early in the season so we'll be eating fresh tomatoes soon I hope.

5. This weekend is Fiddlers!!! One of our favorite weekends of the whole year.

House updates

All three of the new windows are now finished and the attic has light! It is still blazing hot up there since there isn't any insulation, but at least we have the capability to put a fan in a window and blow air in or out. Today Brian is getting the existing house windows ready for the siding. Last night we sat on the porch talking about the rest of the summer and he realized how many weeks we're going to be traveling next month so it lit a little fire under him to get moving this week.

Well, apparently our computer is going to crash soon, so I guess I'll post again today. I just tried to upload some pictures and there are some kind of fatal errors happening. What I was going to post was a picture of my house on the last day it will look the way it looks for posterity. Tomorrow starts phase one of our summer construction project. We ordered the new siding today. Wahoo! Tomorrow Brian will start cutting holes in the side of our house to add some windows to our second story attic. These windows were purchase in, um... 2005(?) I want to say. They've been sitting in our garage ever since. This is step one to having a functional attic space. I know it will at least give more light up there. Next week we (why do we women always say "we"?)--Brian and Bob (his dad) and anyone else who is interested in helping will start putting up the new siding. We went against the supposed theory that blue houses don't sell. We both really liked the dark blue with white trim. We're going to add white shake shingles to the front of the porch which I am really excited about. Hopefully I will add some pictures of the process.

What we've been up to this week

Elijah and Brian in 2007.
same picture in 2009.


I keep thinking that surely summer is going to calm down...one of these days. This week the kids have been going to Art Camp at the Lafayette Museum of Art. Elijah's teacher from school is teaching the class and they are having so much fun! They made sculptures out of clay that got fired in the kiln, tie-dyed shirts, worked with paint, oil pastels, and markers, and tomorrow they will splatter paint.

Last weekend we went to Bloomington for a weekend music festival at All Saints Orthodox Church. We stayed in our camper and it was perfect! We had a nice little place to hideout when we needed a/c, a nap, or a quiet place to hang out. I know it isn't exactly "roughing it" but I think I'm over that. it's okay for us to have a bed to sleep in if we're seriously going to hit the road.

Blast technology

I really wanted to share a great video clip of Elijah performing in his school musical, We Haz Jazz. It was a musical about the evolution of jazz music in the United States. He played Tommy Dorsey. You can spot him in the front row with a blue sport jacket, red bow-tie, and big glasses. He was a natural! He was doing jazz hands all over the place. Unfortunately our video camera is not digital. Our camera takes digital video, but the only clip that I have (that you get the pleasure of watching) is VERY wobbly thanks to a certain 4 year old that is pulling on my arm whilst I am trying to tape. Don't say I didn't warn you. You may need dramamine.

Booked

It feels a little more real tonight. We have a destination and a reservation that is paid for. The end of this summer will find us in the Black Hills of South Dakota.