Thanksgiving Celebration - Advent Begins

The kids had a lot of fun putting up lights this year.

On actual Thanksgiving Day Titus and Chris broke out the tiller to turn over the vegetable garden (Chris wants lots of ghost pepper next year), Lance (with the help of the neighbors) covered the bed in wood chips and then all the kids played wiffle ball in the court, while Chis and I baked pumpkin pies inside for "Thanksgiving Day Observed".  It was a great day.

The M-Family arrived early on "Thanksgiving Day Observed" to play an airsoft version of Bang in the yard.  While we adults prepared the meal inside.  The grandparents came over around 4pm and we sat down to enjoy a wonderful feast and fellowship.  Between the meal and desert the adults enjoyed lively conversation while the kids played the card version of Bang in the bonus room (do you see a trend here).  We think this is the 5th time we have celebrated Thanksgiving with the M-Family.  When I invited them this year I said "You have to come, its tradition", to which their oldest son said "You know what? She's right. We do have to come".  What blessing good friends are.

We had great plans for productivity on Saturday but TLC (Turkey Left-over Como) had us rethink that idea, so we decided to just have fun together playing games, looking for a Christmas tree (on Nextdoor), etc.

Sunday, was the first Sunday of Advent.  We surprised the kids with a new game "Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza", a wonderful fun and slightly violent card game.  I assume they like the game as they've been playing it a couple times a day ever since.  I have games lined up for the remainder of Sunday Advents (7 Wonders, Tsuro, and El Dorado), as well to go along with our traditional movies of Advent.

My grain mill arrived last night so now we can officially make our bread completely from scratch, what a difference it made in the first loaf.  Last night was also my last Gateway 1 class, I found a kindred spirit in Joette and I felt encouraged and empowered to keep learning more so I can take complete control of my family's health.  It's truly been a week of many thanksgivings.

The Great Room Migration

Back on September 14th we took a leap of faith.  We believed if we removed a hallway closet, we could punch through the back of our master closet to make a passage way to the third floor stairs.  

You see the original entrance to the third floor stairs was through the master bedroom and the master closet, not exactly convenient for anything but I suppose a master suite retreat (which is not where Chris and I like to spend our resources).  We had talked to multiple contractors over the years, one wanted to remove the whole side of the house to fix the problem but we believed there had to be an easier and cheaper answer to the solutions they proposed.

So Wayne took down the wall, the opening was big enough (just like my tape drawing - that apparently only made sense to me - showed).  I was also convinced based on our investigation that the wall was not load bearing, which was confirmed and documented by an engineer a few days later (a little out of order but it worked out).

The next two months were a bit hectic to say the least.  To save money I acted as the general contractor coordinating contractors, electricians, HVAC, carpet people etc.  Additionally, we did some of the work ourselves, bought all the supplies ourselves (with the help of friends to pick them up and get them upstairs), boys served as free labor to Wayne the contractor, we cleaned out lots of old stuff (trash, give away and sale) and bought new-to-us furniture, (ie Craigslist deals) and rearranged a lot of furniture throughout the house to be better utilized.  It was stressful, time-consuming and worth all the effort.

Jared's new studio is awesome!  Chris says it's the most peaceful room in the house.   Moving from 111sq ft. to 425sq ft. is a huge change.  J-Rod Studios and its founder are flourishing in their new space.  One of the unintended benefits is that he can now film during the day instead of staying up all hours of the night; instead he can sleep "like a starfish".  Having the new table and chairs, not only helps with filming but also with playing Memoir '44 with family and friends; another bonus.

Lance had never painted his old room and since he now moved into Jared's room (the only completely decorated bedroom in the house; as it originally served as a guest room) he got out of ever having to do so.  His new bed (He'd only had a mattress before) has lots of neat secret storage so he doesn't need a dresser.  He added legs to his diorama so that it didn't have to take up desk space.  He's very pleased with his new abode.

Amber and Titus have been sharing a room for the last four years.  Needing to separate them was a big part of the push to get this project done.  They both need space and frankly its just time.  Titus agreed to take Lance's old room (smaller than their current room) if he could paint it any color he wanted.  We agreed and he painted it all himself.  I would have never chose the color but I absolutely love it because its so Titus.  I also found a really cute desk for him to have in the room.  He loves having all this projects on display, even if it means he can't blame the mess on his sister anymore ;-)

My reason for bribing Titus to take the smaller room is that as a girl Amber was going to need the walk-in closet for all her dresses.  The thought that he'd still have to share the closet if he kept their current room helped motivate him to switch as well.

Amber is finally sleeping in the cheery sleigh bed I bought her before she was born, because all little girls need a sleigh bed.  Jared had been using it in his old room in recent years and it had served as a guest bed/ daddy needs sleep bed before that.  

I found an incredible glass display case for a steal (GP Frank helped up pick up a lot of the new/used furniture over the weeks and I think he got a big kick out of what little we paid for some of the pieces) so now Amber's china dolls are safely on display.  Her and her friend Kathryn arranged them in a "special scene".  The final touch was an incredible Arts and Crafts desk someone was practically giving away, its so big and sturdy.  I made a decision I don't want to bring into my house any "normal" pieces, I want everything we have to be as unique as us.  We had originally talked about painting Amber's room but we ran out of steam and had to put that plan on hold (along with painting our room, the landing and the hallway) so that we could all just settle in for a bit.

Our old closet area is now called "The Landing" I found a free desk that fit into the niche just perfect so for now its a work area, with storage for extra schooling materials.

The door from the master room to "The Landing" was drywalled close.  This let one last issue to solve... we no longer had a master closet.  During the construction we had our clothes hanging on a temporary clothing rack but that wasn't going to work long-term.  After much thinking/dreaming we finally decided to remove the tub and mini-closet in the master bath and turn the area into a reach-in closet.  We had never used the tub for anything but drying clothes (now that Jared's clothes were out of the linen closet I had plenty of room to do that by the washer dryer).  Chris and Lance removed the cast iron tub (it was too heavy for our contractor) in fact when they did they saw it stamped at 285lbs!!!  It sat in the front yard for a bit (we had ideas of spray painting it and using it for a planter) but in the end I got a scrap metal guy to remove it for free.  Though the great room migration had been done for a few weeks, today Chris had the time to put in the closet organizer.  Its so nice having all our clothes together again in a closet and I really like having it across from the bath sinks (the shower and toilet are in a separate room).

Side moves of the great room migration included a revamp of furniture from other parts of the house into the school room, the family room and bonus room making them all more functional and aesthetically pleasing.

My friend helped me with painting the master bath and I hope to finish painting the hallway, our room and landing over the holiday break but for now things are settled.  The house is much more at peace and I'm terribly pleased with all that we accomplished.

Happy 25th Anniversary to us!

 

Looking Amazing!

 

Here people are "looking amazing" during out exploration of the "Mountain to the Sea" trail Amber and I found earlier this year while the boys were being Grease Monkeys.  We had wanted to take the whole family for a while and today was the day.  Lance and Titus are missing from the photo because they came prepared to go fishing and went off the main trail about half-way through to do so.  We caught up with them on our return trip, they however caught nothing.

It was a really beautiful trail with lots of elevation changes and different trees showing off an awesome variety of colors.  We'll have to come back again.

Warbirds with Eugene and Friends

(Written by Jared)

"Warbirds over Monroe" is the Historical Airshow that comes to Monroe, NC every year. The airshow didn't happen in 2020 (for obvious reasons) but it was back this year! What made this year even more special was William, a good friend of mine, was able to come with us this year!

After getting our front row seats (advantage of coming early) we explored the different planes. IT WAS COLD!!! We all were shivering, except William who came perfectly prepared with his layers, scarf, and hat.

This year there were different planes from last time. The majority of planes were trainer versions of the Douglas Dauntless Dive Bomber, and A TON of P-51 Mustangs. William and I being WW2 lovers, this was very special. One disappointment was the "Memphis Belle" B-17 Bomber was not there this year. The Bomber was too expensive to keep with the airshow, but we were glad to hear that it is safe and sound in a museum.

I was also able to purchase sketches of General Patton and Field Marshal Rommel, two of the best Field Commanders in history! It was a great find!

As we walked around looking at the different planes, a squad of German Soldiers (reenactors) walked towards us. William and I walked over to them. As a joke, I said, "Is the Third Reich planning on expanding anytime soon?" Without hesitation, one of the soldiers responded "Well, Czechoslovakia went pretty well." And another chimed in, "I think Poland is next." We all had a good laugh and then started talking about the different clothing and equipment they were featuring. We were even able to take pictures with the "German Officer" who let us hold his MP40 Sub Machine Gun.

We turned to our right and saw a whole camp of different WWII, Vietnam, and even Modern reenactors. The first camp was a WWII American camp. They had a lot of small arms, and a WWII Jeep with a .50 caliber machine gun! We were even able to go onto the bed and touch the gun! One of the reenactors gave us strips of cloth to help camouflage the tent. One of the other tents was a Vietnam era camp. Interesting thing about this was the weapons were disguised airsoft guns! They said it was a lot cheaper than getting the real ones! The other camps included the German and British camps.

By that point we needed to run back to our seats, and we had root beer and food waiting for us when the airshow began!

The first planes were solo flights of the heavier planes. All of these were propeller, and the sound was deafening! Hearing all those engines with the low passes was an indescribable experience. Next was the only jet plane there, a soviet jet that was MUCH FASTER but much less exciting. There's just something about propeller planes that will always be special. While the jet engine was in the air, the WWII planes also took off. It was so much fun watching all the Mustangs flying together.

The next 3 performances were the best! The first one was a stunt helicopter, the same from the previous show and just as impressive! The second was a group of synchronized stunt planes. Each pass they made, they created a different shape. The third and final was the stunt plane with a smoke trail. What we weren't expecting was the ROCKET CAR to come out onto the runway! The plane and rocket car had two races, each one taking a victory. The stunt plane finished it off by flying upside down through a streamer!

The final performance was the warbirds' strafing runs. ALL the warbirds made passes and TNT already on the ground made it look like they were dropping bombs! Finally they all grouped together for the missing man flight formation. As the crowd remained deathly silent, all the planes flew in formation, then one of them flew into the distance, commemorating all the brave airmen who didn't come home.

And then, THE WALL OF FIRE!!! Lance was prepared this time, as last time he was in the bathroom when it happened and the blast almost knocked over his porta-potty. The blast was EVEN BIGGER this year! It felt like we were having our faces burnt off!

With that, the airshow was over. As we all drove home we related our favorite experiences; one thing we all agreed on, we need to go back!