Fiona and Twig

Monday, February 7, 2011

Checklist

What was on yours today?

Friday, February 4, 2011

And On the Third Day...

...God said

"Let there be water"

and voila!

Our pipes un-froze and once again,
after three long days of frozen pipes and no shower, (ewwww)
we had running water!

{ from my recent photo shoot}

No more carting the wet stuff in, we're all set.....

(fingers crossed, another freeze coming next week)

~ahem~

la-la-la-la

can't hear you weatherman,

fingers in ears,

la-la-la-la

It's a bit of a mixed blessing, as we have a cracked pipe as a result of the freeze,
but all things considered, I'll take it.

Have a great weekend!

I know I'm going to, I FINALLY get to take a shower, woo hoo!!!

:-)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Rule of Thirds

Happy Thursday...
And no, the title does not refer to the well known photography term.

I've been working extra hard here to put on my smiley,
all-is-well face,

because as we all well know,

it can always, always be worse.

In the medical world, we believe that bad things tend to happen in threes.

Yep, we are a decidedly superstitious lot, but it's a time tested theory.

Let's try it out here in blogland!

But first, a pretty picture.

The worst tasting medicine is always better with just a pinch of sugar.

On Sunday, we had the fire...

We're lucky it wasn't worse, but we're looking at a significant

repair bill for the burned siding and structural damage.

Then came the great freeze out of 2011 this week, with the coldest temps

we've had in Texas in over 20 years.

And despite all our best efforts, we have had frozen pipes and no water since Tuesday.

An unsettling turn of events, given the fire we just went through.

All the "what if's" have swirled through my mind....

Specifically, what if there's another fire? We have no water!

It's not expected to thaw until the weekend,

and at such time, we could be looking at burst pipes and yet another hefty repair bill.

So that's two semi-biblical plagues we've been visited by this week.

Where's the third?

Thanks for asking. It's right here.

I went by the new house this morning...

you know the one we just can't seem to get moved into?

This lovely little gem...

only to discover that the other night, during the hellacious (sp?)

ice/rain/50mph wind storm the other night,

it took out a huge chunk of the older privacy fencing in the backyard...

Cha-ching!

Hear that sound?

That's the sound of our handyman putting not only his kids but his grandkids

through college on our dime.
We already paid him a HUGE chunk a' change for the fencing work
he did for us in the Fall.

Ain't life grand?

Actually....

yes, it is.

Life is grand, and through all the trials and unexpected expenses,

we are lucky to be living it.

I'm still planning a bit of time away in the days ahead.

Time to take in all the changes,

to re-prioritize,

and to re-focus.

In months past, this blog has devoted a good bit of space to promoting other people...
their stuff, their shows, their homes...

and that will still continue, to some extent.
I love sharing new and talented bloggers!

But many times, I've done so from a place of insecurity...

thinking that you would MUCH rather read about someone else,

see pretty pictures of someone elses stuff or home...

because why on earth would you find ME or MY stuff interesting?

A change is coming.

For better or worse, this year....this blog....is going to be about me.

Us.

Me and The Mister.

The cat.

The pups.

The swell new Victorian cottage.

My styling projects.

And all viewed through my lens.

Not so much about everyone else BUT me.

Re-evaluation; my NewYear's resolution.

How are yours coming along, my friends?

Stay warm, and Happy Thursday!

Linking with Debra for

Vintage Inspiration Friday...

This post isn't necessarily "vintage", but I am,

so I figger that qualifies!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

What Really Matters...

It had been done a hundred times before.

This time it turned out different.

My husband took some trash out to burn in our fire pit.
Just some cardboard and some magazines.

I even had him check this morning
to make sure the burn ban was not in effect.

And a short time later I heard him yell from outside for help...

The flames had jumped the pit and were out of control.

The medical person in me reacted in a triage fashion:

Call 911...

Make sure the animals are okay....

Move the cars so the fire trucks could get inside the gate...

Rush back outside to help him put out the flames.

We are still in our "old" house way out in the country.

It took the volunteer fire trucks almost 20 minutes to arrive.
Twenty long minutes, and I thought for sure our home
would be engulfed before they got there.

But arrive they did.

All four of them.

Our siding on the back side of our home was burned,
and the flames came right up to the house.
We both inhaled a fair amount of smoke,
and I have some burns on my feet.

However....