Monday, January 26, 2009

The Old Barn


Not to count my chickens before they hatch, but we're due to close on this house and property very soon. Most of the formalities are out of the way, and we've taken some pictures of the place and are having fun looking at the ways we want to fix it up. This barn is ("they" say) over 100 years old, and it has so much character - it also has some major issues - part of the roof is gone, the floor has caved in and up in the hay mound area something pretty large must be residing due to the size of the "presents" it has left behind. Of course, being the romantic that I am, I really really hope we can save it - Mark does as well, but I think he's a bit more practical than I am. We're hoping to have an Amish crew come up and take a look at it and give us a quote on restoring it. If it's not cost effective, at least we can save some of the old beams and possibly incorporate them into the new barn we hope to build. I'm still hanging on to hopes that this one can be restored - like our friend Stu says, these old barns are a dying breed.

Friday, January 16, 2009

What a New Year

This is gonna be a heck of a year I do believe. If all goes well, Mark and I plan on getting married in October - first thought of going to St Augustine Florida for a small beach wedding and then a big party back here a few weeks later. That is still a possibility, but now we're working on trying to buy a house - it's on 10 acres with a pond and small woods in the back - needs a bit of work - unfinished upstairs, but it's really got character, and an old barn that's about falling down but hopefully salvageable. If we can get the place cleaned up, we might just decided to tie the knot at the homestead. Plus, I turn the big 4-0 this year - that hardly seems possible - seems like I just graduated from high school. And, on the work front, it looks like we'll probably be going back overseas early next year for another 6 to 9 month vacation - joy joy! So, the easily-overwhelemed, procrastinating me has decided to just take it one day at a time and pray every day. Seems to be working pretty well so far :-)

And speaking of praying, wasn't it truly a miracle that all of those people on the US Airways flight survived yesterday - God Is Amazing!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

New Year Nausea

Happy New Year! New Year's Eve we stayed close to home but did stay up long enough to ring in 2009 - didn't even crack open the champagne, but I did have a few glasses of wine. Then on New Year's Day we took a drive and relaxed, but then in the evening I got sick as a dog. First thought it might be a touch of food poisoning, because I've been there before, once I did it to myself with tuna helper - ick. But this time I had the chills and body aches something fierce. Just now starting to come out of the funk - just in time to return to work - joy joy. All in all though, it was a very nice Holiday vacation - lots of friends, family, fun and laughs :-)