Normal Reasons to be Thankful

I talked earlier this week about the Weird Reasons to be Thankful.
Now, I would like to share with you some normal reasons to be Thankful, since it is Thanksgiving day and my mother would appreciate it if I was more normal for once.

First and foremost, I am thankful for this hot little number-Biceps. Need I say more on that subject?

 

Secondly, I am thankful for my big crazy family. Every one of ’em. (I have another brother that should have been in this shot, but he ran off before I pulled out the camera. He hates to have his picture taken, apparently…)

 

I am thankful that I live here. Well, not here on Ellis Island-but here in America. I love my country.

 

I am thankful that I got to hang out with this guy for 8 years before he was called home to be with the Lord.

 

I am so thankful for these.

 

And for these two little troublemakers. And even though the number 7 on my keyboard is missing and I believe they have something to do with this, I am still thankful for them….

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for?

Ancient Fire Station in New York

Biceps and I have been keeping a secret from all of you, dear readers.
We want to start a family. Let’s be honest-I’m gettin’ old.
But in order to do that, we knew we had to make some radical changes. Biceps went back to school, got his EMT certification and is on the path to become one of Oklahoma’s finest Firemen.
Mustache and all.

He is volunteering at a local station in Oklahoma while we’re home. But financially-it’s just that-a volunteer position. While we are pursuing this career switch and waiting on a paid position, we are still touring around with stinky bands. Due to all of this, our little eyes have become more keen on fire stations around the country.

 

This fire station (built in 1895) is one of the oldest and hottest fire stations in New York. Tee hee.

 

It’s been converted into a venue-which is why we were here with the band.

 

Our fire stations back home are mostly made out of the same thing that our churches, cattle yards and strip malls are built out of-gigantic metal buildings with absolutely no character.

 

Nothing like this.
Bicep’s mustache grew an extra centimeter just laying his eyes on this here station. And my heart skips a beat thinking about the possibility of our life being somewhat “normal” and pro-creating. So, my dear readers-there you have it: our big secret. I know you’ve all been wondering about us and why we’ve waited for so long. Wonder no more…

The Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Deux

You’ll want to check out the Master Bathroom-Part Uno before jumping into this. You need to be prepared. And if you really want to be prepared, check out what I did with the adjoining Master Bedroom.
So, go-I’ll wait for you. But please, do come back.

Yeah! You’re back-I am assuming you have done what you were told and aren’t being naughty at this point. However, if you are being naughty, I know the feeling…
This is what I started with-a green room with absolutely no appeal, nothing, nada. Boring.

And this is where I left you in the Master Bathroom-Part Uno. Biceps was on tour without me (very sad) and I was being sneaky and remodeling the bathroom. I changed the wall color from green to a deep gray. The concrete floor and both vanities had been stripped of their old concrete stain. I painted the countertops canary yellow using garage floor paint. All the difficult steps are finished-now, it’s time to decorate!

I found Harold (the horse) at an antique store in Jenks, Ok for $10. This was Harold’s first car ride. As you can see, Harold was very happy to come home with me.

Using Harold as inspiration, I began to amass several large and small frames-all of which I spray painted a high gloss white. I hung the empty glossy white frames on the gray bathroom walls, making them pop.

I found a chandelier at an antique shop for $15. For safety’s sake, I rewired it first. Armed with a can of gold spray paint, I repainted it and then antiqued it. I then watered down some leftover high-gloss black paint, and used a rag to rub the watered down black over the gold to antique it.
Next, I found a brother-in-law that came free with my marriage to my husband. He aided me in the electrical portion of my bathroom remodel. After determining the spot we wanted to hang the chandelier from, he went to work-cutting, wiring, and hanging.

I got to do the fun stuff associated with chandeliers-hanging sparkly crystals in the appropriate areas. I scavenged discarded chandeliers from other projects to come up with what you see here. Before hanging them, I first cleaned them with vinegar and water to really make them sparkle.

Since I was on my own when it came time to hang the frames, I needed a ladder, some dexterity and a lot of good balancing. And 911 ready on speed dial.

Harold witnessed me almost fall (more than once), but he just sat there and whinnied…jerk.

The three dimensional bird and branch motif that are hanging above the mirror, I snagged at our local flea market for a couple of bucks and spray painted them also high gloss white.

We’ll probably lay tile on the concrete floor at some point in the future, but for now, just the stain being gone is wonderful. If you hadn’t read in my earlier post, the “stain” decided not to stain the concrete and kept coming off in chunks and sticking to our little footsies.

Hope you enjoyed my new changes around my old house.
Harold (the horse) seems to be loving his new home, and so am I. I can hardly wait for Biceps to see it.

Fall time in Europe

Awhile back, Biceps and I saved our pennies and vacationed in Europe for an entire month. This morning, as I sat in my housecoat with coffee in hand, a slight rain drizzled outside. While the water splashed on my windows, I was reminded of the mornings in Europe we huddled together waiting for our train, usually snacking on some sort of pastry and wishing we had packed warmer clothes.
We wouldn’t trade those moments for the world.

This tiny little town of Hallstatt, Austria is less than 1,000 people and only accessible by boat. We flitted about in the off-season, unencumbered by the usual tourists-drinking coffee and hiking its mountains. It was quiet, to say the least-except for the occasional cow bell.

 

The path to Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss) is lined with ever changing colors-which can be seen in great depth-if one is too cheap to pay for transportation up the mountain and decides to walk the 5 million miles on foot, uphill….

 

Simple. Beautiful. Fun to climb for the first 20 minutes, then prodded on with the promise of coffee for finishing the hike by a certain someone with a name that rhymes with Ticeps.

 

I wanted to rent a house and live here forever. But then I realized I wouldn’t be able to see my parent’s or Biceps parent’s or my brothers or my cats…..needless to say, no house was rented.
We were thankful to see Europe in the fall, the colors were vibrant, the tourists were sparse and the weather just cool enough to warrant a jacket a handful of coffee.
I would love to go back soon. I hope Biceps is reading this. Hint, hint…..