A Mile In Our Shoes: Auntie Em! Auntie Em! The Big Feeze

Feb. 1, 2011

WHAT A WINTER!

It seems like winter will never end. We woke up this morning to everything outside covered in ice. The mother of all winter storms seems to be headed straight for us. This has halted all work outside the house, unless of course we like to work in our ice skates. Here are a few photos of what it looked like outside the house this morning.

We were notified this afternoon that Indiana University has been closed and will remain so through tomorrow. Nearly the whole state of Indiana has come to a halt. Rowan was supposed to leave for a trip to Southern California for a conference tomorrow, but the Indy airport and Chicago O'Hare are already closed and most likely won't reopen for two days. They are expecting 20 inches of snow in Northern Indiana and the Chicago area. Our ice will turn to snow later tonight. I must say that as I sit here in the house blogging, there is an erie feeling every time we can hear the trees cracking when a gust of wind comes up. There are little pieces of tree that fall on the house. Lets hope the 60 mile an hour gusts that are expected later tonight leave us with our new roof intact! Good thing is we have a full fridge and freezer and plenty of fire wood on the porch.

Once we realized we may be stuck at home for a few days, I went out yesterday and got more paint samples for the interior walls of the house. We are still working away like little elves on the interior. Here are some photos of the interior work we have been doing the last couple of weeks.

I have put Rowan in charge of painting all of the high spots now. Just too much for my old bones to be going up 15 feet to paint the high bits. Here she is painting one of the kitchen walls for the second time (we ended up doing it 3x's!). Women have a right to change their minds, so that's what we keep doing :o)

Our dear friend Sally has also been helping us paint. Here she is painting the entry hall in its first trial color.

.....and Rowan again on the high bit in the living room for the 3rd and last time!

As I continue to cruz the internet to find more interesting stuff, new boxes keep arriving at the front door. Since Rowan is our fixture electrician, she has also changed the light fixtures more than once. What a dear! :o)

So, call us CRAZY, but we decided about 10 days ago to have a 60th birthday dinner party on Jan 29th for our friend Sally and had 14 people in our very not finished house for a sit-down dinner. Yes, I was about to have a nervous breakdown about this since I will also need to cook Thai food for 14 in my very not finished kitchen. Oh, and not to mention we have no new dining table to seat that many, oh yeah, and our dishes are packed away in boxes. Hmmmmmm, this is when I should have had a menopausal tantrum :o)....scare everyone into just going out to eat! But, NOOOOOO, we love Sally too much not to do this for her, so we borrow a table and chairs and soup bowls from our neighbor, I get the nicest Chinet I can find for plates and we are almost set. We borrow a truck to go get our couches (we suddenly realize we have nowhere for that many people to sit). We worked very hard to get some pictures on the walls, rugs down, etc. to make our new spaces look like a home.

We had lots of help from the cats to get ready. Lulu is always in the middle of everything and right under your feet or hands to help. Here she is helping put up the bookcase that will act as a pantry for the serving dishes.

Of course, Fergus, being the lump that he is, continued to use his mouse as a pillow while he napped!

Here are a few photos of

the house as ready as we could get it. Including paint samples on the walls.

And, just a few photos from our camera from the party(more will be posted later from other folks cameras).

Here is the royal Thai couple. There just can't be a Thai dinner without having them there (Seriously. Have you ever been in a Thai restaurant where you haven't seen their photo?). Our friends Marj and Jeri brought this to the party. Hilarious!