Pin Keeps from the class at ILCS

Retaining Wall

This is what it looked like when we arrived this morning.

Bob hard at work or play. Tee-Hee!

Tracey digging, for the last wall. Once the hole is dug, 8 inches deep by 12" wide it is filled with gravel, then sand and then you lay the stone.

Jay (the owner), Bob, Todd and Tracey. If you look close you can see the second wall.

Side view of the wall and you can see the curve at the end.

The first course of the last retaining wall.

Close up of the first wall.
Ran out of materials needed to finish the job today. Which is fine by me, we were all so worn out!!! And I couldn't wait to get home and shower. I have bruises all over my right leg from carrying the five gallon buckets of gravel and sand. It didn't rain on us but there was a few sprinkles.

The building of a retaining wall Portage Indiana

Dylan at breakfast. He slept on the way there and the ride back home.

Dakota at breakfast.

This is what it looked like when we arrived.

Todd, who does more talking then working.

Bob cutting the stone.

Bob and Dakota.

We moved 2 tons of stone Saturday. Will finish the job today, it is suppose to rain, hope it doesn't.

Still have to clean the pool. We installed the pool last fall, they didn't get to swim in it last year because it was so late in the year when it was finished. There is at least an inch of clay at the bottom of the pool from the wash out of the hill, where we are putting the retaining wall. This will not be a fun pool to clean.

This pool was a pain to install last fall. The owners bought the pool on line and thought he would install it himself. When they called us, there was just a hole in the ground and it was washed out because of all the rain they had. To top it all off the drawing were wrong and they sent us the wrong liner. The ground is all clay, not much fun to work in.

Baby Shower!

Dara's baby shower was today, everything went well. She recieved lots of great gifts, cash and gift cards. More pictures in my photos.
Friday I just wanted to come home and clean up the back and front porch. But I had to deal with comcast about our phone not working then, run Dylan around. I did get the back porch cleaned, but didn't get to set down until after 9 pm.
Saturday Bob and I had some pools to do. It rain almost the hole time we were working. Then we had to go shopping for the baby shower and get all the stuff that I needed to make. I made two for the dishes that night, the ones that had to chill. Didn't set down until after 10 pm.
Sunday made the hot food for the shower and picked up a few things I forgot Saturday and the fruit and veggie trays. Bob put the signs up so everyone new where to turn and balloons out in front of the building. We all pitched in and did the decorations and setting up the food.
Had lots of people tell me that I did a good job. :)
When we started planning... Brandon's Mom came over and said I won't have to do much, that she wanted to do almost everything. The way it ended up is "she" bought the cake, ice cream, cups, plates, spoons, forks, napkins and she got the ink for her computer that the kids made the invites with. I did everything else, all the food (except for the cookies-my MIL made them), stamps for the invites, gifts for the games (which there were a few let over and I didn't get home with them, wonder where they went?), paying for the place to have it and stamps for thanks you cards. I hope that the kids will make their own thank you cards. Total cost...$332.24

Thanks to everyone that stops by and for all the great comments. :)

Through the years-1

Cheerleading!

I found the cheerleading picture from high school. It was taken at Indiana University in Bloomington, during cheerleading camp and then the picture of me in the same outfit. LMBO!!!

The Move

Where do I start...

Friday March 28th we got the key to the new house.

Started cleaning, walls, floors and moved in a few things. My friend (Kim) from work was kind enough to come over and help. She was a lot of help, she came over Fri, Sat and Sun. THANKS SO MUCH KIM!!!

Friday night Dylan and his friend Dakota wanted to sleep at the new place so we let them. Bob, Dara and I stayed at the old place. The boys thought it was so neat, they had fun, of course we had to bring the tv over for them with his game systems.

Saturday we started moving everything. Bob's friend Tod came over with his truck and they moved a lot of heavy stuff. I was busy still cleaning and we were stacking all the boxes in the craft-computer room. Dara and Dylan had to clean their own rooms and get them organized. Dara did great, Brandon helped her some. Dylan's room was liveable and I let it go until the following weekend. He was gone Sunday April 6th and I redid his room. I thought he might be a little mad, but when he got home he said "Thanks Mom" and gave me a hug. Finally I did something right?!? LOL! There are still two pictures I need to hang up for him and we need to find a place for his collection of knifes and swords.

Bob moved the computer and the beds before I was ready. I thought we were moving them on Sunday and he moved them on Saturday. Sorry ILCS group that I wasn't around on Saturday and couldn't check in on Sunday like I had planned.

Sunday Tod and his girlfriend came down and moved more things over with their truck. They got all the big stuff except for the washer and dryer. Bob moved them Monday after work with Brandon's help.

Sunday night looking for everything before I go to bed to make sure I know where things are before I have to go to work Monday morning. Couldn't find my night bras or my working bras. It took a while but found them before I went to sleep.

Other compilations that happen with the move...

Water-trying to get the water off at the old house and in our name at the new house. They won't let me shut off the water in the old house, because it was in Bob's name, even thou all the checks that paid the bill was in my name. Grrr!!! Finally after the 2nd or 3rd trip I made to the water company, they let Bob call in to make the changes.

Comcast won't come out until April 14 to hook us up at the new place. Bob kept calling them and finally they said they could come out on April 11th. Living with out the pc I did have withdraws. I missed all my friends in my groups. I even had a dream about Shari and Karin. The only tv station we could get in was NBC, if I had to watch one more "Deal or No Deal" I think would be in the nut house. LOL!

Bob got the washer moved Monday and it and the dryer won't work at first. It is getting late at night and we had to get clean laundry for the week. I am having a fit and he said give me a few minutes and he had everything going. :) Thought I was going to have to go to a laundry mat. :( YUCK!

The first week after the move I was trying to get 5 to 6 boxes empty every night after work. The second week I slowed down a little bit and put a few stitches in Sarah Small Finished Exchange and started Mylene's. Sarah's is almost done, but ran out of 907 and picked that up yesterday. Mylene's is just over halfway done.

Comcast was to be at the house Friday anytime between 10 am and 1 pm. So, I went to work for 2 1/2 hours. Told work that I had an appointment and left it at that, they didn't ask any questions, this is the first day that I had missed any time, since I start the first week of Dec. 2007. Stopped by JoAnn's to get the 907 dmc I need to finish Sarah's SFE. There were only two customers in the shop, counting me. I ran in grapped the dmc and up to the counter and no one is around, hit the bell 3 times, still no one. Found someone working and told them I was in a hurry and I have dmc 907 and handed them 50 cents and I walked out. Had to get my car to the shop, the breaks they fixed a few weeks ago were making noise, and get home before comcast showed up. What a suprise Comcast was waiting on me when I got home, they were early!!! But it took them forever to get everything done and the guy made a mess in Dara's room and didn't clean it up. GRRRR!

I still have a lot of boxes to empty, but when my Mom called the other day for a conversion from Anchor to DMC I knew where that was. LOL! The craft-computer room is now organized boxes and in my bedroom (even through I have a large closet there wasn't a clothes rod or any shelves in it) and a small area in the upstair hall way. I took pictures of the house Satruday when we made our first trip over here and they are in my photo alubm. I forgot to take pictures of the back yard and we also have a small garage. The house is 103 years old and most of the wood hasn't been painted. We really like it and most everyone that has stopped by to see the place really likes it too.

Last Saturday it was nice weather here, so I did some yard work, cleaned the back area and have all the leaves bagged, but spring clean pick up isn't for two more weeks, so the bags are by the garage until then. It took just a little over 3 hours to get the back yard cleaned up. Brandon helped a little and Dara very little. LOL! Sorry I haven't taken any pictures of the backyard yet. But I do have a few spring flowers coming up.

Last night couldn't find my camera. I looked everywhere that I could think of and asked everyone in the house if they had seen it. Finially this morning when I was walking by the cabinet in the living room, for some reason it was saying "look in here". I opened it up and there was my camera. LOL! :)

Dara is doing really good, next Sunday is the Baby Shower. I have almost everything ready.

OOPs! I almost forgot the best story of them all. Sunday morning I was the first one up and was on my second cup of coffee when Dara came down stairs and said she thought she heard a mouse in her room. She told her Dad, but we was sleeping and told her to deal with it. I went up to her room to check it out. I couldn't find anything or that anything had been in there. Then later that day around 10 or 11 Dara started yelling. I was in the upstairs bathroom and ran in her room to see what was going on and she was screaming BAT-BAT! I looked out in the hall and it looked like a bird to me. So, I told her it was a small bird. Dylan comes out of his room and says, Mom it is a bat. I was going to close her bedroom door when it flew in her room and Dara is still screaming. We get down on the floor as it flys around I crawl out of her room and I was trying to get her to come out of her room with me, I was just getting ready to close her door with the bat in her room when it flys out. Just then Bob comes up the stairs and grabs the broom in the hallway and hits the bat. It goes down and he asked me to get a glove out of Dylan's room so he could pick it up. So I find a glove and toss it at him. Bob goes to pick up the bat and it flys down stairs. I go back to Dara to make sure she is going to be okay. Bob has to hit the bat again and he gets it out of the house. A few nights later we was a bat flying around in the bat yard. Could it be the same one???