Before and After.....Grasshopper Wing...

Hello everyone,

Well, we've been busy putting "our" touches on the house....There are plenty of projects for us to do, and we have been trying to prioritize them. We've painted the walk-in closet and put up nice wire shelves, Hannalize painted the laundry room and it looks far, far better. She has also been very busy taking down wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room. As can be imagined, several layers of wallpaper can cover up some interesting "repairs" to the walls...It's very interesting what some people consider an acceptable repair job. Overall, the house is in very good shape, there are just a number of cosmetic things that we want to change.

Last weekend, Hannalize totally repainted the sitting room. It was a boring white with some old, dirty very frilly and lacy curtains. Since that wasn't really our style, Hannalize decided to do some work....You'll find some before and after pictures above. The new color is called "Grasshopper Wing"...It really has brought out the character of the living room. It should go very well with the colors for the dining room and kitchen. They will be painted "Buttercup" with maroon accessories. The house should be a lot more lively from now on.

This weekend has been quite busy. Friday night, we were both worn out from a very busy work week, so we just relaxed by the house. Saturday, we went into Coeur D'Alene and had a full day of shopping. We went to Lowe's, Sears, Wal-Mart, and Costco. For our friends and family in South Africa, Lowe's is a giant DIY center, Sears is a department store with the best appliances and the ultimate tool section. Wal-Mart is a giant discount store that carries everything for very cheap, and Costco is a warehouse store like Makro. We came back home with a car that was stacked full to the roof. Poor Roxy barely had any space to lay down in the back.

Hannalize leaves early Monday morning (she must be out of the house by 4:15 AM) for a trip to Springfield, Missouri. She'll be back on Wednesday afternoon.

We're really looking forward to Hannalize's parents arriving on October 5th. They will be here until October 28th. We have a ton of stuff planned for their visit. We're going to make a quick trip over to Oregon and see our old house, visit Joel's parents, and go to the cabin. Hannalize's dad and Joel will be busy doing lots of hunting, and we will do lots of sightseeing. We can hardly wait.

We are both very glad that Genevieve is doing well and is back home. Our thoughts and prayers have been with her and her family since Thursday and we're very thankful for her speedy recovery.

Until next time, keep well and God Bless....

Joel & Hannalize

Paul Bunyon Days...!!!

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since our last post and we have to apologize. Things have been very busy getting settled into the new house. We're really enjoying it, and we never seem to run out of projects to do around the house.

First things first, this weekend has been Paul Bunyon Days here in St. Maries. For those of you who didn't grow up in America, Paul Bunyon is a story character who is a giant lumberjack who cleared huge swaths of land with his axe to make way for civilization. He also has a giant Blue Ox named Babe. Since St. Maries is a logging and lumber town, every labor day weekend, the town pays homage to the legendary Paul Bunyon. Remember, St. Maries is a town of 2,653 people, and during Paul Bunyon Days, there might be as many as 10,000 people here. There is four days of events and celebration. The highlight was a HUGE fireworks show on Sunday night. There was also the "Largest Topless Bar in Idaho". It was a large outside beer garden without a roof. Yesterday, there were various logging competitions in the city pool where people would roll on a log and try to roll the other one off, there were competitions where people were jousting in canoes and all kinds of fun things that guarantee everyone will end up in the water. Today was the competitions with the chainsaws, axe throwing, and pole climbing. There was also lots of music, dances, carnival rides and games, and a huge parade. We both rode on the back of one of the fire trucks and threw candy to all of the kids. Most kids had bags that were stuffed full of candy.....Every child's dream.

We've attached a few pictures of the house, including one that shows the view from the deck. It is quite smoky in this picture from the nearby forest fires, but it really is a beautiful view of the St. Joe River Valley. Hannalize is busy taking off lots of wallpaper and Joel is busy organizing everything in the shop (in America, a shop is a garage that is larger than normal and has workspace). We're also enjoying the hot tub that came with the house..that will be very nice this winter..!!

Joel's parents are up visiting right now. They came up to help us with some projects and enjoy Paul Bunyon Days. Roxy is enjoying all of the extra attention from grandma and grandpa....

It's only about 5 more weeks before Hannalize's parents get here. We are really looking forward to their visit. Her dad will get to go deer hunting with Joel. We'll show them around and give them the quick tour of the Pacific Northwest (and maybe a special surprise...)

Enjoy the pictures and we look forward to hearing from everyone.

- Joel & Hannalize