Progress

Small changes have been happening at the house. Because we are not going to finance any of the remodeling of the house, we are doing small projects here and there. Currently Joe and his good friend Danny have been working on replacing all the cast iron plumbing and preparing for the installation of our water softener and laundry appliances (that have been patiently waiting in the garage). Joe worked hard one weekend and put in our camp fire. Eventually the the stone will lead a pathway to a deck off the back of the house. We have enjoyed the nights sitting round the fire with family and friends roasting some smores and counting the stars.

On Mother's Day, Joe's Grandpa Walt surprised us with a great present. Joe and I had just been talking about how we could cut our lawn that was actually more like a field. We sat down to dinner with our parents, sisters, and family and wondered where Grandpa was - he was late and Grandpa prides himself on being timely. In the middle of dinner we hear this noise, CJ comes running in the dining room to report that Granpa Walt was outside... on a tractor? Sure enough! Grandpa had fixed up a tractor for Joe and I and drove it almost 2 miles from his house to ours! I caught a couple pics of Joe mowing the lawn, like the happy homeowner that he is. Cj has been making good use of the fire pit as he has become more social. Below CJ enjoys a campfire and smores with his friends on the last day of school.

Homework with CJ

CJ and I had a little fun the otherday as we are both studying the in's and out's of Photoshop. CJ had an assignment to manipulate pictures and so we sat down together to get it done. I think our results were pretty cool. This first one is part of CJ's 8th grade portraits I took this past fall at Mukwonago Park. We made the colors pop out and then texturized it with a tiling effect.

The next is again from CJ's 8th grade portraits this fall, but at Rainbow Springs. This one was a lot of work in that we had a lot of layers and adjustments. The effect was to make the picture look like a sketch. What do ya think?

The final image we worked on was a fun one! We took a picture of the Flying Dutchman, the movie prop that is at Disney's private island in the Carribbean, and merged one of CJ's fall portrait pictures to it. It is a hurried attempt, but I think we achieved our end goal of making it look like CJ is standing on the boat...

This is how I know he loves me!

I know Joe loves me when he shakes me awake at midnight, and as I look over my shoulder I see the orange belly and the little legs of a baby painter turtle just a-going! Yes, my love brought me home a turtle!

His name is Leonardo "Pudgie" (because he has a fat head) Davinci. Joe and CJ built a little beach and ramp for him. A warning to all worms - not unlike the TMNT's, this little guy will bring you down! He is hilarious to watch!

So, continuing with my theme: I sat down the other friday to have lunch with my little neice and nephew, Haley and Mikey. As I sat there "talking" with them and looking at my little kitchen (imagining what it will one day be) my gaze falls upon our refrigerator that is askew with the letter and number magnets the kids play with. Well before my love left for the day, he left me a message on the refrigerator. Let's hear it: "awww"! (I know! ain't he the best!)

We are sitting still with the house for the most part right now as we are uncertain what the future holds. Joe has been very fortunate that he has survived 3 layoffs at WI Oven, but if our economy doesn't come around, there are no guarantees. We feel that we can "survive" with our home the way it is until thing pick up. We may make little improvements here and there, but there is no hurry and we are happy with it as it is.