The 2018 Christmas season is over but we're still in a bit of a daze over the awesome Las Vegas Christmas decorations we saw last week! That's right - Las Vegas, Nevada - probably the last place most people think of at Christmas time. But the big resorts on the Las Vegas strip have some incredibly-talented designers (and very deep pockets), and came up with world-class … [Read more...]
Second Christmas in Our New House – Decorations!
Christmas #2 in the new house and it's been so much fun to decorate this year - I remember last year, we'd barely moved in and BAM! Christmas was here! I had trouble remembering where I put the boxes - much less what was in them! This year gave me time to be creative and have some fun, especially with the fireplace mantle Christmas decorations. We took most of these photos … [Read more...]
12 Delightfully Tiny Gingerbread Houses (Updated!)
Someday we're going to head down to the National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, NC but until then, we're all smiles while we enjoy these 12 wonderful itsy-bitsy tiny gingerbread houses! Find the directions for building this beautiful "winter scene" house at Goodies by Anna Carrie Stephens This house and others in the cooking pages of the New York … [Read more...]
House Number Three
Some of you know that Karen and I recently moved from our family home of 26 years to an empty-nester home. Like the experiences of many of you, our move was a bit of a long and winding road, including a two-month stopover in an apartment between homes. We’ve owned three homes together including this latest (and maybe, last) one. We’ve given a lot of ourselves to the homes … [Read more...]
Minor Repairs to Our Stone Walk Turns into a Bigger Job than We Thought…
So we've been in the new house about 7 months now, and after all the work we've done inside, it's finally time to start sprucing up the exterior. We were so excited to find this home, and the patio is one of the reasons why - it's just the right size and it was very well designed, well built, and well maintained by the previous owner (thanks Marilyn!). But progress hasn't … [Read more...]
How We Re-Tiled Our Big Master Bath Shower (with help). Part Two
Part Two of the continuing saga of re-tileing our master bath shower, part of an overall master bath remodel. (Read Part One of this story here) With demolition done and all the finish material delivered, Week Two started with the first actual construction work on the shower. First up was replacing the old shower valves, and the old wet/dry fan/light, followed by the … [Read more...]
How We Re-Tiled Our Big Master Bath Shower (with help). Part One.
Part One of our continuing saga of re-tiling our master bath shower, part of an overall master bathroom remodel... We've done enough DIY remodeling work over the years to know what we're capable of taking on...and what we aren't (or maybe "shouldn't"). We probably could have remodeled our 23-year old master bath shower ourselves, but we needed it done now, and we needed it … [Read more...]