Prep For Reno

There's a LOT going on around here!

First let me introduce you to a new artwork in my office (also our guest room):

Isn't it beautiful?!

I love the colors and the round blobby shapes.

Here's a close-up:

I found it at Ross.

 I also found these great pants at Ross:

blouse: Target
shoes: Kenneth Cole Reaction

They have racing stripes!

Go-go-Christie-speed-power!

I like the zippers at the hip bone.

Butt looks good . . . 

And look - only $9.99!

I also got some new shoes . . . 

I haven't worn heels in a while, but I couldn't resist these for special occasions.

The straps are stretchy.

And I have extremely dry skin and have trouble keeping my heels in good shape, 

so I don't like showing them to the world.

These shoes have a heel panel so my heels can be protected and shielded from the public eye!

So far, I'm just wearing them around the house to see how chafey they are.

The weather has been warm, but that's average for this time of year.

We had our first 100 degree day.

It isn't really something we celebrate . . . 

it means that the deep dark depths of summer is coming . . . 

But it's not here yet!

We've actually had a few days of cloudiness, breeziness, and even rain!

The clouds rolled in yesterday . . . 

We had quite a bit of wind and very lovely cool temperatures last night.

The oleanders are blooming 

(they're kinda stinky!)

Our little baby cactus is blooming:

Such big blooms and such teeny cactus.

 Our huge 10' tall cactus is also blooming!

Allistair has been demonstrating that he is warm 

by showing us his sweet belly.

And I took some last "before" pictures of the house because our

revamp starts NEXT MONDAY!

Things already look very different from these photos because

Greg and I have packed up everything on our bookshelves and transported

it all into the garage or into my office

until the second phase of the renovations,

when everything from the bedrooms, bathrooms, and hall will need to be moved 

into the great room!

I had movie night at my house last Thursday, so I was happy to spiff things

up one last time before the hurricane.

Stephen likes to dangle off things, and he has figured out how to stick his

head through the back of the chairs!

What a silly little monkey!

Aww!

Juvy has lost one of her adorable fangs.  Boo!

Don't know whether it was a fight or gum problems or what.  

She had been holding her lip a little funny and I didn't know why,

and then I realized that her front left fang is gone.  

I almost cried; I love her cute little white fangs.

She doesn't seem in pain.

And she's still adorable, of course!

Look at that little smiling face!

You can see why the vet called her a "cinnamon" cat rather than a black cat.

It's most noticeable on her tail, which is striped brown and black in the right light.

She's beautiful!

I made slow-cooker stroganoff for the first time this week.

My Mom's stroganoff recipe is delicious, but I wanted to try it in the slow-cooker.

I also added carrots.

I put the sour cream in at the very end.

It turned out delicious!

I also found a new brand of chocolate bars that don't have emulsifiers.

Yay!

This bar has little chunks of peppermint in the chocolate, which

makes it even better.  Yum.

Look!  Only six ingredients 

(and none of them an emulsifier!)

I told you I would post some photos of the damage caused by the water leaks in Storm Norbert last September, so here we go!

Along the ceiling in the dining room, water leaked in and dribbled down the wall

inside the paint to make a bubble.

The bubble dried up, but the paint stayed yucky and weird, and the drywall is nasty.

The water got onto the floor and warped the floorboards.

This is why we get all new floors

(we're paying out of pocket for the floors in the bedrooms because we want all our flooring to be the same, and it's best to do it all at the same time).

More leaking from the bedroom ceiling.

Here's an example of one of those paint bubbles in the master bathroom.

Leakage from the air conditioner line in Greg's office that will also be repaired

and painted.

We also are having the lighting in our two bathrooms replaced - yay!

We ordered the lights from Home Depot and they arrived on Friday!

 Here is one of them getting unpacked so we can check it out.

Isn't it cool?!

Closer-up:

They're going to look great!

Also neat about these lights is that the white parts are illuminated (but diffuse! I love diffuse lighting!) and the little brown tubes pointed down also are illuminated.  So much light available!

We're planning to install dimmers, too, so we don't get too much.

Here is the book process . . . 

Stack according to size to make them easy for Greg to slot into the boxes in the garage . . . 

. . . and keep smiling!

Allistair has been exhausted by all this change.

Juvy has kept us company, and she found the chaos tiring, too.

But she was still happy to have a family and a home.

Being a cat is HARD WORK!