New Year's Resolution

It's December 29, 2010.  Tomorrow is my daughter's 5th wedding anniversary.  She has asked me again and again to get back to blogging.  I will try to blog again.  I always like to post pictures and it began to annoy me to get those pictures posted.  While I know people who read this may want to also see lots of pictures, when I blog in the future I may not post many pictures . . . depends on my mood, I guess HA. 

Here's hoping that 2011 will have many, many more blogs than 2010 did!

Until then........

Long Time, No Blog, Huh?

One of these days I'll try to post some pictures.  I've found it's so easy to post pictures on Facebook that I don't post on my blog much any more.  I'll give you a quick story about yesterday before I sign off.

Sundays are usually very drama free around the Rucker household.  Yesterday, not so much.  As I was walking out of the garage to go to church, I began to text Chad to see if he & Crosby wanted to eat lunch with us since Michelle was working.  As I walked and texted, my head ran smack into the garage door which was not completely up at the time.  OUCH.  Lesson learned:  Don't text and walk.  (Question . . . Tom was directly behind me . . . why didn't he warn me????)

Then that afternoon I was walking across the den floor when, try to form, I stumbled.  I actually broke my toe in the mishap. Lesson learned:  I should purchase steel-toed shoes.

On Saturday, Tom & I decided to drive in the mountains to escape the terrible heat wave.  Before we left town, I asked him to go to our local drive-through to get me a drink and I was taking a drink to my friend who was sick.  As we approached the drive-through, I said, "Get me an un-sweet tea and get a regular Coke for Nancy."  Tom rolled down his window and spoke into the microphone, "I'd like one sweet tea and a Diet Coke."  Couldn't have been more wrong.  Tom, I thought I was the one with the auditory processing problem!  Bless Tommy.  And, by the way, we drove away with FOUR drinks.

Tootles for now.

Birthday 2010

Yesterday was my birthday.  I spent the morning at Abby's playing with Cady.  The Ivester's and Tom & I ate lunch at Anita's.  Then I put a second coat of paint in my dining room.  Tom & ate dinner out at Stella's then went to our second home:  Lowe's.
Guess what Tom got for my birthday?  4 nail guns and a compressor.  Guess what I'm getting for Tom's birthday in June?  4 new outfits and a pair of shoes!! Just kidding.
Maybe one day soon I'll be able to post pictures.
Later.

I Miss My Computer!

Until renovations are completed, I do not have a computer.  I occasionally check my messages on Abby's computer, so my blogging will defintely take a back seat until further notice.  Since all my pictures are stored on my computer, I won't be posting any pictures of little Crosby.  If you are on Facebook, I do have some on there.  Abby posted some pictures for me.
Update on the house:  For the rest of this week I will be painting day & night.  I have three large rooms, four closets and one long hallway to paint by Friday, because on Friday afternoon the hardwoods will begin to be put down.  Lots to do.  Tom & Matt are installing the hardwoods so they will finish when they finish!  As soon as they are done, a crew will come in and sand the original hardwoods in all the bedrooms then stain & varnish (?) all the floors, hopefully matching the old with the new.  During that time Tom & I will make ourselves scarce, living elsewhere for several days.  Next on the renovation agenda will be to put down the baseboards (which includes touch-up painting) & the "shoe molding".  New light fixtures and new switches/outlets are yet to be installed. And, of course, we will be moving all our furniture back in the house - The Big Move-In!  My desire to be finished by the end of May is questionable but not impossible.  On June 4 we will have been living in a mess for 5 months.  I'd love to be back in a clean, organized home soon after that date.  Time will tell.............. 
And, just for the record, Tom & I are still happily married!

Crosby Miles Rucker Was Born Today!

Michelle's due date was April 25. Chad called this morning at 8am and said they had just arrived at the hospital.  Before going to the hospital, they had to make a stop at his office b/c today he was doing a presentation in full regal attire.  Oops.  Someone else got to be the king.
Tom was on a fishing weekend away and I knew he got no cell service out on the lake.  So I left a message around 8:30 that Michelle was dilated 3 centimeters.  I picked up Abby ("BeBe" kept Cady) and we arrived at the hospital around 10:45.  At 11:00am Michelle was already dilated 9 centimeters!  FAST, huh?  I left another message at the lake and told Tom that he was definitely gonna miss the birth, but to please come on home.  About 12:50 Michelle began to push.  And she pushed, and she pushed.  About 2:00 Tom arrived.  He didn't miss a thing!  At 3pm the doctor decided to let Michelle rest.  The problem was that Crosby was face up and would not turn.  So they turned Michelle on either of her sides for an hour to see if the baby was turn.  A little before 5pm Chad came out and said Michelle was having a C-section.  Michelle was so tired and now was emotional about trying so hard to birth naturally.  But the most important thing was to get Crosby here with both mom and baby healthy.  So Crosby was born at 5:17pm, weighing 7# 7oz, and 21 inches long.  He has dark hair and everyone says he looks like an Italian (his mom's maiden name is Soldano!)  Michelle and Crosby are doing fine.  Both are tired.
Chad called tonight about 9:45 and told us a story that he forgot to mention earlier.  He said when Michelle woke him up early this morning that he had a song resonating in his brain as he slept.  He said, "Mom, guess what song I was singing in my sleep.  It was 'How Great Thou Art'.  I don't know when I've ever thought of this old hymn.  I just know Mimi knew that today I was gonna have a son."  That was a very touching moment for Chad early this morning.  Neat, son . . . very neat!
Pictures will come tomorrow!

Grandson On The Way!!

Chad called and Michelle is having my grandson today!  Her water broke and she's dilated to 3.  I'm stuck home with workmen who are assembling Tom's new "shed" for his boat.  Meanwhile, Tom is in his boat on the lake and hasn't a clue what's going on at home.  He has a very exciting message wating on him when he comes in for lunch at the cabin.  I'm leaving as soon as I pay these guys.  They said they'd be finished in a little over an hour.  Hurry up, workmen!

I will blog again when Crosby Miles Rucker arrives!!!

A Quick Blog

Nothing will get me to blog faster than to prove my own insanity to my friends.  Yesterday was our annual family Easter egg hunt.  I had just sat down in a comfortable chair on Ab's driveway when she exclaimed, "Mom, look at your feet!"

We all had a good scream about this one!  The flops could not have been more different.  Honestly, how did I get out of the house w/o noticing?  I do remember walking down our "plyboard" hallway thinking that my shoes were making different sounds when I walked.  I thought, "I guess the rubber soles on those white sandals have worn down on my right one."  Did I look down?  NO.  When I put on the sandals, the white one was on the floor and the other one (I thought) was just under the bed.  I used my right foot to slide it out and I just slid my right foot in.  Didn't even take a peak at what my right foot slid into.

Somebody help me!  Remember I had a similar mishap a couple of years ago at a restaurant with my children.  Then I went home and promptly put on the OTHER unmatched flops.  I do believe Tom has made a reservation at The Springs for me.

But don't my toes look good?????

A Day Out With The Gals

On Tuesday two friends & I drove to the Hendersonville area to celebrate one of my friend's birthday.  I didn't really have a clue where we were going; I really didn't care.  As long as it included food and some laughs, I would have gone to the city dump.  When I asked where we were going, they said, "We're going to a day in the country."  Oh, I love country especially when it's mountain country.  My birthday friend received a call from her sister who asked where we were going.  My friend said, "We're driving to a day in the country."  I thought, "Man, she's being very vague about what's "in the country".  Were we having a picnic on the river's edge?  Were we eating out in a field along with cows and goats?  It wasn't my birthday; why were both gals so secretive?  I just played along with their little game.

So we were driving along the interstate and we took an exit to a very busy shopping/outlet area.  Immediately, we turned into a parking lot and got out.  The name of the restaurant/gift store is "A Day In The Country".  I almost wet my pants laughing!  I think my friends thought I'd lost my mind.  They said, "We told you over and over that we were going to A Day In The Country."  Then they realized how it sounded.  We all have a good laugh.

My Blogging Has Taken A Back Seat To My Remodeling!

Where do I begin?  It's been almost a month since I posted on my blog.  I do miss it, but this house has my full attention at this point in my life.   Tom is working his buns off around here.  Thankfully, he's back at work fulltime which has put a dent in his remodeling efforts.  Now he does small things around the house at night and works lots on Fridays & Saturdays.  Much has been accomplished, but much more has yet to be done. 
Here are some pictures of our journey:

Chad & Tom emptied the den of most of the furniture.  Until remodeling is completed, Tom & I have two chairs to sit in and they aren't the most comfortable chairs, either.

Tom's worst project was tackling the removal of partial board.  It literally breaks apart into partials, some big pieces and some just crumbles away.  It's SO messy!

This lovely 1960's linoleum was beneath the carpet in our den.  We had it tested for asbestos and thankfully there is not a trace.  This weekend Tom will begin removing this eyesore flooring.

Yes, we do indeed have hardwood beneath our bedrooms' carpeting.  Tom has one room almost done and only 3 more bedrooms to go.

This is my "Elephant In The Room". I've aways thought this fireplace was ugly and it sticks out so far into our den.  You can't miss this elephant.  I decided to redo the fireplace.

Much, much better!  I have to put one more coat of white and I will have removed the elephant from my den.

Now, here are some pictures I've taken during the last month:

I love to read to my little G.G.s

Love this sweet face.

And I love this sweet face.

Martha Stewart

Houdini

Aubrie, taking a stroll

Cady, goggling a recipe.

Cadence loved the snow!

Tom & I kept Aubrie one evening.  Here she's just had a bath and is watching Dora.

Uncle Chad is reading to Aubrie & Cadence.  He's gonna be a GREAT daddy.

Cady, with her pigtails.  Cracked me up!

Michelle at a recent shower.  That's my little grandson sitting in her belly.  Hello, Crosby!

(Read My Previous Post Before You Read This One)

A continuation of my earlier post:

I LOVE it when God shows up when least expected!  As I mentioned, I was lamenting the fact that I was having to buy another gallon tea pitcher when I know I have several packed away.  I just returned from the grocery store and I had a very unexpected experience. 

I bought the five items on my list and had just sat down in the car to head home when I realized that I had not purchased the tea pitcher.  It was not written on my list.  And it was the one thing I needed most.  I wasn't in the best of moods when I exited the car to go back inside the store.  Just feet from the store's door, I thought "I can't remember when I've made a gallon of tea.  Where could my pitchers be?"  Honestly, I heard God speak in my brain.  He said, "Look in the refrigerator."  I envisioned my refrigerator and there in the very back I "saw" a pitcher that is filled with water.  I haven't thoroughly cleaned out my frig since remodeling began.  I'd forgotten that I even had a pitcher of water.  Thank you, God, for reminding me of that so I didn't have to spend more money.  I LOVE when God shows up and lets me know that He cares about the little things in my life.  Yea, God!

Oh, Brother...........

Wanna know how life is going around this crazy house?  Well . . . . . I've realized that it is taking way longer to paint than I ever thought.  My laundry room and small entry way are gonna be the death of me.  The entire area was dark paneled walls and dark wood doors & trim.  This requires a coat of primer and at least 2 coats of paint.  I noticed today that the door really needs one more coat of white.  Man, oh, man.  I thought I'd have finished this small project days ago.  

And another thing:  I can't find anything I need.  Tonight Tom & I are going to a dinner party.  I was asked to bring ice, coffee creamers and sweet tea.  I can't find the container that houses my tea bags, I'm out of sugar and I can't for the life of me find my gallon tea pitchers!  Frustrating, to say the least.  I don't mind buying tea bags and sugar. But I must have 5 tea pitchers somewhere, probably boxed up in my attic.  

Ok, I feel better now.  I've vented.  Now on to Bi-Lo to buy my supplies.

Hello, Nice People!

I'll try to catch up on my life for the past several weeks.  I'll start with the house renovations.  Don't remember what I mentioned earlier about the renovations, but here's what's going on in the Rucker home:

• Tiling completed in kitchen, laundry room, small entryway, and Butler's Pantry.
• Caulked all baseboards & quarter-round in above areas.

Yet to be done:

• Seal all grout in above areas.
• Paint ceilings,walls, baseboards & quarter-round in above areas
• Put in new toilet in laundry room and new faucet
• Put in new light fixtures in laundry room and small entry
• Replace washing machine & dryer and frigerators (presently, they are in the middle of my den)
• Remove furniture from every room of the house, except the aforementioned rooms (this includes all items in closets in these room (yuck!) Furniture will go in the garage, but that's AFTER we have a garage door installed, which will be AFTER we get Tom's new outdoor shed installed to house his bass boat.
• Begin ripping out carpet in all other rooms
• Rip out particle board in most of those rooms
• Lay hardwood floors in den, dining room & hall (hardwood is already under carpet in bedrooms)
• Escape from my home for the few days while a crew comes in to sand, stain, and refinish all hardwood floors.
• Add base molding & quarter-round to all hardwood floors.
• Strip wallpaper from my bedroom, Tom's bath and the border in Ab's old room.
• Paint fireplace brick in den
• Put in new ceiling fan in den and new chandelier in dining room
• Frame out three new openings in the den
• Paint hall, master bedroom & Ab's old room
• Tell Ab for the 100th time to come over and remove nails from the crown molding in her room that she just HAD to put up years and years ago . . . . she told me then that she'd remove them and I'm making her stick to that promise!
• Replace all the furniture that we removed from the house earlier.
• Check our pulses to be sure we're still alive after doing all the bullet points above!

Are you tired from reading this?  Are you overwhelmed for us?  How do you think Tom & I feel?  We both decided this weekend that we cannot look too far ahead b/c we'd get deliriously depressed.  We need to take it one day or one week at a time.  Needless to say, it will be several months before this house is back to order, but the house will be clean & orderly and I won't have to deal with nasty carpet ever again!!  My sinuses will love that.

All tiling is done!  After this picture was made, we added the base molding & quarter-round.

Ok, and another thing:  I don't do well with changes.  Facebook just changed its format, yet again.  Don't like it.  This blog site changed its format and it drives me completely MAD!  Can't find the spellcheck icon. And after I post a picture, I cannot for the life of me get the posting to align left.  It won't get off CENTER alignment.  Why?  Don't have a clue.  So, and this makes me crazy, the rest of this blog will be centered. 

Ok, now I'm really going crazy.  I just went back to the first word of that last paragraph and I hit "align" left.  It went left.  Now I'm in different font and it's going in the center again!  I hate this!  I'm not ever going to try to left align this blog again.  It is what it is.....

Next on this blog are some pictures of the little girls.

Sweet Cadence

Abby kept Aubrie one day. Cady & Brie had a great time together.

Lunch time!

Brie is cracking up!

Cady is not happy, but she's still precious.

Brie at home

Cady & Brie sharing a chair

Silly little girl

She looks lost here.

Papa stealing a kiss from sick Cady.

Brie is pretending to be is shy with Papa.

Eating a snack.

Brie loves to read.

Cady is talking on the phone.

Cady is sharing her "food" with Papa.

Now I'll tell you about my mission trip to New Orleans the end of January.  I went with my church.  There were 4 women and 8 men.  We worked hard and laughed harder!  I had a blast.  Yesterday in Sunday School someone asked me to briefly tell about my trip.  I said, "Well, I learned to use many tools:  circular saw, reciprocating saw and two different handguns."  Of course, I meant nail guns.  The class just erupted in laughter.  But I really did use lots of tools that I've never used before.  I helped frame out a new closet, frame up windows, hang new doors and put down hardwood flooring.  Impressed?  You should be!  I'll tell you about the lady we helped.

Our trip was through Samaritan's Purse.  We helped a lady named Geneva, 74, whose home was ravaged by Katrina.  She said she'd been through many a hurricane, but Katrina was devastating.  She & her adult son were going into the attic as the flood waters followed them up the attic stairs.  She didn't know how high the water would rise.  Thankfully, the water stopped when it reached the top of the door frames.  She & Fernando spent one night on a small piece of plyboard b/c the rest of her attic was just rafters.  In the morning her son kicked out part of the front gable and a neighbor picked them up in his johnboat.  They were taken to an overpass right in front of her home.  They spent 3 nights there before any help arrived.  Her home is in the upper 9th ward.  Geneva should be back in her home in just a few weeks - the first time in 4 1/2 years.  Here are some pictures.

 

Geneva talking with my friend Nancy

This is the overpass where she stayed for 3 days.

Homes like this are still everywhere.  Geneva only has one neighbor. . . all the other homes are unoccupied like this one.

This is a home next door to Geneva.  Trying to sell it for $24,000 cash.  I took this picture on Tuesday.

3 days later it was going for $17,000.   Very sad.

One afternoon before cleaning up, we drove to the lower 9th ward.  Most of the homes here were just washed completely away, leaving nothing except for an occasion stoop or steps once leading to homes.

A lonely stoop. This land once had wall to wall houses.

Another set of lonely steps.

If you think that since 2005 things are probably getting back to normal for the people of the upper and lower 9th ward in New Orleans, I'm here to tell you that's just not the case.  So much devastation still remains.  It's unbelievable.  However, there are good things going on.  Samaritan's Purse is doing a terrific job rebuilding homes.  They have been there for some time and have commited to continuing to build homes through Dec. 2010.  Another bright spot in New Orleans is . . . . ta da. . .

Brad Pitt

Brad, we're good friends ya know, has committed to building many homes in New Orleans lower 9th ward - the hardest hit area of Katrina.  His new homes are, well, quite odd yet very interesting.  Here are some of his homes:

This looks like a roof gone haywire, but it's a Brad Pitt special.  Looks like modern art to me.

We stayed in the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.  Our accomodations were very comfortable.  Here was our ladies' "barracks".

Cindy, Nancy & Jennifer from my church.  There were a total of around 55 people working that week and a total of 35 from the great state of S.C.!!

The church was flooded during Katrina, too.  See the colored, horizontal board across the back of the choir area?  That's the high water mark.  They put the board there as a reminder of the devastation within their walls.  It is a great church!

The leader from our church was Bram.  He's made over 30 trips to Mississippi and New Orleans since Katrina hit.  He really has a heart for these people.  He's a very hard worker and expects that from people he takes.  He also can be slightly bullheaded, hence his nickname, Bull.  The last day some of the guys altered a sign and posted it in front of Miss Geneva's house.

Bram laughed, thank goodness!

Okay, it's taken me over an hour to post this blog.  Don't know when I'll be able to do this again.  But when I can I'll try my very best.  Over & out.