Gettin' Things Done - kind of . . . .

Don had the great idea of getting the cabinets as done as we could before we bring them down. He flipped the hinges on the tallboy and the end cabinet, drilled the handle holes (with the excellent help from me), and put the hole in the countertop for the sink. Looks great!



Alyssa has her black bean bag chairs she wanted for her room in Arkansas. I saw some down there at the Walmart, but obviously couldn't buy them. I went looking for them here in Manitowoc, but everytime I looked, they didn't have black. Then one day I checked and more had come in - in black! Yay! She wants her room to be black, white, and purple. Much to her Dad's dismay, she's going to have a feature wall in purple. It's just paint. Easy to get rid of when the time comes. But in the mean time, it makes her very happy! We are also going to cut out some song lyrics with my Cricut out of vinyl and put those on the walls. She's excited about that.



The basement is a total disaster. There are building supplies everywhere. I'm also trying to stain and seal some doors in the middle of this mess. It's a challenge to say the least.



I have never claimed to be a cabinet maker or a woodworker or anything else having to do with drilling holes. I was trying to help mark the holes for the drawers on the cabinets for the bath in Arkansas. As you can see below, I didn't mark them very well. We're really hoping wood putty makes my "extra" hole invisible, but we may be putting plates on the back of the pulls. Oh well, makes it more personalized don't you think? OK, maybe not.




Alyssa had her spring concert this past Friday. The title of the concert was "Time Warp". She had a couple of special parts in it this time. She got to be "Ringo Starr" for the 60's Decade. No speaking involved, but she was WAY better than the real Ringo. She also got to sing with five others for the song "Imagine" for the 70's decade.



Right now the plumbing and the drywall is being completed by some contractors. When we get there in April there will be a big change for us to see. Can't wait!

Jill

Latest update on the AR house

Don and Eric have been in Cherokee Village for the last 5 days working on revamping our vacation home. They got the electrical done and the drywall up. The also got most of the subfloor in. Our neighbor down there, Todd, will be finishing up the plumbing. Then our other contractor, Russel, will finish up the drywall so its ready for us to prime and paint. Don took the following pictures - Eric working on the drywall and we have a daffodil in bloom. We won't see daffodils up here for severals months, yet. Makes it seem like forever until spring.


While down there, Eric took pictures. He said he won't let me have them till I update this blog. Now he owes me!

Jill

Catch-Up Time

YOU ARE UP TO DATE! I WILL TRY TO KEEP THIS GOING NOW!

Where's my mom?

Surprise! Don and I decided to trim the hedge by our patio tonight. When we were done we walked around my flower gardens talking about the changes I want to make. He mentioned that two of the shrubs in the front yard had really taken a beating this past winter from all the snow. We decided to take a look at them. Then we noticed a couple of little mallard ducklings crossing the road coming right toward us. They weren't afraid of us at all - even wth Mellie staring at them! The two of them came right up to me. I knelt down and they waddles right underneath me! Mellie only tried to eat them once - she's such a good dog.

Don looked arojnd the neighborhood for the mother duck and/or their nest with no luck. He then called a couple of places trying to find out what to do with them. No luck so far . . .





Alyssa is in heaven, but very unhappy we can't keep them. The longer they stay the more attached she's becoming. We need a call fast!

Pyromania

A surprise invite to a bonfire, what could be better? Getting an invite to a really HUGE bonfire. Eric has once again outdone himself. This ones been a long time coming - like two years worth of wood! Eric named Alyssa the honorary pyromaniac. Starting a bonfire with a torch - what a blast!

The fire was not contained to the ring of boulders - that's right, boulders. Not your normal little rocks. Bigger is better, right?

You'll notice everyone is WAY back from the fire. The heat was amazing. I was wearing capris. Felt like shaving my legs wasn't necessary, the hair felt like it had been burned off!

Except for the major bug bites we had a blast. Thanks for the invite, bro!

Jill

Bonus!

An additional post! Not waiting for a game night to let you know what's been up for once.

Make you hungry for ice cream? We're very predictable. Lys had chocolate chip cookie dough. Don had mint chocolate chunk. I had Chicago dark chocolate.

Hulk Alyssa. I'm telling ya - she is very strong. She held up this tree as long as she could so it wouldn't fall. We were in Lakewood at Cathedral Pines for Alyssa's pic. I actually got a picture of one of the Great Blue Herons flying overhead building a nest. I've been there about 5 times and this was the first time I got the pic. Now you wish I would show you the picture, don't you? Too bad.

We went antiquing a little bit on Saturday. I think it's so fun to look for Pilsbury Dough Boy collectibles with Lys. We didn't even see any this trip, but Lys found a live bear she wanted to take home.

The dog's name is Bear. He was at this shop last year when we visited and the two hung out with each other like this then, too. Couldn't resist the pic. Bear cooperated, too.

AND, we saw a real bear! We were on Newton Lake Road and this cub trotted across the road in front of us. I went for my camera immediately, fully expecting to not even be able to see the bear by the time we got to where he crossed. However, when we got there he was leaning against a tree posing for the picture. We were high fiving each other that I actually got the picture. Awesome!

Fishing. Lys lives for it. She was the first to get a fish off the dock by Pop's Resort. She can do this for hours. I can't. I end up reading my Kindle.

Don also caught a fish. His was caught on Newton Lake.

Just needed to let you know my garden has now awakened. These anemone remind me of butterflies. Being white, they glow at night. Beautiful.

Summer has arrived finally. I really enjoy the warm weather. Bring it on!

And by the way, Eric has started his new job. He has filled me in on some scary driving going on at night. Come on people! My little brother is on the streets of the Green Bay area driving a truck that has no get up and go - you need to take it easy on him!

Jill

Easter, Mother's Day, Game Night, oh my!

Yep, been a while again. Well, here's the update. Once again we had the Easter celebration at the Erdmann household. My nephews had an absolute blast with the egg hunt. Even with adults helping, they missed one egg! I also think next year I'm going to have to have harder hiding spots. These guys are good. Don't you love their Easter outfits? So handsome.

Next holiday? Mother's Day. My sister graciously agreed to have it at her house. Here's Mom with Sara and me. I think I'm going to really like scrapbooking it.

And the next big event? Game night, May 21st. Michele's birthday is the 25th, so we also celebrated her birthday. Her dog, Bob, is very special to her, so I made little dog cupcake toppers that we decided were bob's girlfriend. I think she enjoyed us singing happy birthday to her the most! Oh, and by the way, Eric was the winner again. He wouldn't forgive me if I didn't mention that.

And last but not least, Alyssa had her last concert of the school year tonight. Here she is with three of her friends to her right. Furtherest to closest to her - Stephanie, Kendra, and Katie.

Here's the whole chorus on stage.

Well, you're up to date. I hope to have pictures of Memorial Day weekend and my gardens in the next post. Will summer ever get here?