A little bit of painting

For the past two weekends, we have been inspired by the Extreme Home Makeover show to do some of our own home projects. That, and the house needs to be painted. Last weekend we took Dr. Rod's old bedroom and gave it a fresh coat of paint. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend to paint. We had no rain and the temperature outside was wonderful. We opened up the entire house and allowed the fresh air in (and the paint fumes out).

So happy to be painting!

Proud of a completed room with a new ceiling fan!

The next weekend we were not so fortunate with the weather. It was hot...so very, very hot! Plus, in an effort to avoid a serious paint fume headache, I donned a paint mask.

Isn't that just cute?

We again opened the house...to let the fresh air in and the paint fumes out. Instead of a cool 70 degrees, it was a steamy 88 degrees inside the house. We were sweaty!

Too bad ladies...he's all mine!

Despite the heat, we got the room painted and it turned out FABULOUS! This week we used a different paint from Lowes. They now have a low odor, zero VOC paint that worked out really well. I survived the weekend with no headache. Also, one day after we painted, you can't even smell the paint fumes. How cool is that?!?

Isn't the color beautiful?

Celebrating its completion!

We also did some yard work this weekend. Since I hadn't posted a picture of the garden recently, here it is.

Look at those growing plants!

Texas Snow

After two weeks of replacing shingles, Buzz said wanted no more of climbing on the roof. So at dinner one night, I decided that what we needed was a big storm that would do enough damage to the roof that our insurance company would pay for it. That night we had did have a big storm. The color of the sky turned blueish, green. Then the rain came down with the hail.


After the storm, this is all we had left, a little bit of hail. The only hail we received was pea size...not enough to do any damage. However, the storm did knock down a few shingles...of which I am now blamed for, since Buzz had to go back on the roof.

A little bit of housework

Since this is the first spring that Buzz has been home in four years (and the first spring that I've ever been in the house), we've been busy working around the house. One of our first projects was to do yard work. We transplanted four bushes from the backyard, added three new bushes to the front yard garden, and cleared an area for my vegetable garden.

Two of the transplanted bushes.

The three new bushes and two transplanted bushes.

My new garden!

This is my first vegetable garden in years. A couple of months ago I started several plants from seed. I planted tomato plants along with sweet peas, jalapenos, and carrots. All except the jalapenos have been transplanted to the garden.

The tomatoes growing from seed.

The jalapenos growing.

The yard isn't the only thing we've been working on. As with any spring, sometimes you get a few storms. Well, we've gotten more than a few! As these storms have rolled through, they've torn down roof shingles and damaged our fence. For three weekends in a row, Buzz had to climb up on the roof! During two trips to the roof, shingles had to be replaced.

It's a lot steeper than it looks.

During one weekend we had to rebuild a section of our fence and the gate. A storm had blown down the gate, which just fell apart due to rotting wood. And one of fence stud's was broken right at ground level. After that weekend we hurt for several days!

Digging post holes.

Rebuilding a gate.

Look at that gorgeous fence.

A project well done!

Get Together with Friends

This past month a friend of mine came into town. Right now, she's currently living out of the country. Each time she comes in town we do our best to get together.

Since she was in town a few weeks, we were able to meet at the city's Aquarium. Her son had a blast seeing all the birds, fish, sharks, and penguins. I had never been to the Aquarium and was amazed at its size and design, not to mention the amount of young school children there! If I remember correctly, there were over 500 kids there that day! Anyway, as you walk in the front door, you are taken along a well landscaped path filled with plants from the Rainforest. Honestly, you feel as if you are no longer in the city. The plants are so large that any view of the street is blocked.

Once inside, you wind your way through the Rainforest to the bottom level where the Aquarium is found. There are small tanks of fish everywhere. However, one of the most impressive tanks is a 40 foot long tunnel filled with sharks and rays. My friend's son was just mesmerized by all of the animals. No matter where you were in the tunnel, you felt completely surround by sharks and rays.

Once we finished walking through the Aquarium, we all headed to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Though it took us 20 minutes to find parking, the food was worth the wait, especially the chips and queso.

The next day we met up with two other friends for dinner. Buzz came along to meet them; he had heard me talk about both of my friends, but had never met them. We met at Fuddruckers for a great dinner. Even after dinner was well finished, we sat around talking. We were still talking in the parking lot when the workers to the restaurant left!

A grand tour of Purdue

This is the first time that I had ever been to Purdue, and it was a cold, windy day for a walk around campus. We started at the Student Union; I got to see the where Buzz used to study.


Next, we headed to the engineering hall. Of course, as we walked through the building, we realized how eerily quiet it was. It appeared that the entire department had up and left. We finally learned that a new engineering building had been build across campus. The new building even had a coffee shop on the bottom floor!


We then walked around campus, seeing all the sites, including the Residence Hall where Buzz once worked.


As we headed back across campus to find a long time friend, we came across the Purdue Boilermaker Special. How neat is that! And we were able to find Buzz's friend. Years ago the two men were RA's together.

Just before we left the campus, we headed to Triple XXX for lunch. Buzz has eaten there on more than one occasion. And it even got some National notoriety when "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" stopped by and highlighted the place in one of their shows.