White Christmas

We live in an area that rarely gets snow for Christmas. I can only remember one year when our older kids were young, that we got a white Christmas. And I think that year we gave them scooters or something, and they were disappointed that they couldn't go out and use them that day.

There have been a couple of other years when our area had a white Christmas, but each time we were gone visiting married kids and didn't see it.

Well, this morning, I looked out the window and saw that we'd gotten a dusting of snow during the night or early morning, so we had a white Christmas this year--at least for a couple of hours. It's all melted away now.

We're supposed to get about 5 inches of snow tomorrow, the day AFTER Christmas.

Before & After Pictures

The above photo was taken last winter & shows the old siding color.
The siding was a weird beige color with dark brown wood trim.
You can see the color better in another photo lower down.
The wood trim had deteriorated very badly.

Below: the new siding is a cream color with a hint of yellow to it.
The trim is now white. The front door has not yet been replaced,
but will be replaced in the spring with a wooden door, at which
time the door frame will be wrapped in white to match the rest.

Click on the photos to see a larger view so you can also
see the decorative trim along the top of the house &
the box window and dormer window.

Before and after photos of the side door and side porch:

Above: the old door and old porch. Notice how
the old porch goes off to the side. This photo shows
the color of the original siding better than the
top photo did. It really was an ugly color.
I've hated the color the entire time we've lived here.
Sorry about the snow blocking most of the porch & door.
However, if it weren't for the snow, I wouldn't have
taken any photos of this side of the house at all.

Below: the new door and new porch
Notice the difference in the siding colors as well.
The new siding actually appears to have
a hint of pale yellow in the sunlight,
and there is more of a contrast with the trim
than it appears in these photos.
It really turned out very lovely!

The first changes we did to the outside of our home were begun in October, after our kitchen porch unexpectedly collapsed. The wood support for the stairs had split on one side, and it came crashing down. I'd hoped to postpone that replacement, since we were going to be having the trim repaired and capped, which was going to be a bit costly and was not covered by the insurance. Also, our side door had deteriorated. The decorative window dividers had come off on the outside. The weather stripping was gone, and the seal of the window in the door was broken with moisture getting inside. What was worse, the frame of the door was also starting to break down, and I was afraid mice would be able to get in if we didn't deal with it quickly. It was beyond repair. We knew we needed to replace the door.

The porch was replaced first. Instead of bending to one side as you can sort of see in the first picture, it was changed to come straight out, which was a definite improvement. It even has a handrail for children on one side. The new door is also more secure, since there is only a half moon window at the top of the door, rather than the larger window that took up most of the upper half of the old door, and which a thief could potentially have broken out and even climbed through. While our neighborhood has not had a lot of problems with break-ins, and our side porch is in plain view with motion detector lights, it just seemed wiser to choose a door that was less vulnerable. This door is also nicer looking.

Since the old security lights had to be removed when the siding was replaced, we had them put up a new light--still motion detector style, but with three lamps instead of just two, so more area will be lit.

It was taking so long for the siding replacement to begin, that I was worried the cold weather would prevent it from being done, but they started in spite of the cold temperatures. It snowed the day after they started, so they only got in a few hours of work that day, and they didn't come do any more work the following day, but they did come again on Saturday, and finished Monday morning.

I'm betting our property taxes will go up next year, since the real estate appraisal for tax purposes will be done soon, and our house looks so much prettier now--it almost looks like new!

Getting a Facelift

Back in May, we got hit by inch & a quarter sized hail, which damaged our siding really bad. The insurance company is paying for our siding to be replaced. That meant I needed to find a reputable company, and not just some storm chaser.

I was ready to sign the paperwork with one company, but the rep changed his story from what he'd said at first as to what would be included (he said they'd do the trim at no extra cost). Later he backpedaled and said that they couldn't include it at no extra cost, but he'd be able to get the insurance company to pay for it. He said he knew my insurance adjuster, but my adjuster said he only knew the name and hadn't really had any actual dealings with him. I felt the siding rep had been dishonest with me, so I decided to find someone else.

So I talked to lots of siding replacement companies over the next couple of months. They all promised to give me references, but none of them did. Except one. I went and looked at the jobs he'd done and gave him the job, along with some other work we needed done.

Now, a little secret about my house. We bought it when the building of the neighborhood was still going on. Essentially we "built" the house and got to choose the colors on everything except the siding. The builder chose the outside color of the house, and it was a color I hated. I've hated the color of my house as long as we've lived here, for years and years. We've been in it a long, long time.

It's not going to be that icky color anymore. It's going to be a lovely Heritage Cream with white trim. They started yesterday, and by this morning, at least a third of it was done. Snow brought the work to a temporary halt, but the part that is done is lovely!

When my son gets home from his mission, it's not going to look like the same house. We had the side porch rebuilt, and it's a different porch completely. The side/kitchen door has been replaced, and it's an entirely different style. The color of the house will be different. Oh, and we have deliberately NOT told him about the renovations. We want him to be surprised!

Our house is going to be so much prettier, but half the fun will be to see his reaction when he comes home in March. I'll post pictures when it's done.

So Adorable!

My newest grandbaby! This photo was taken on the blessing day when he was almost two weeks old. And yes, I'm prejudiced, but the little guy is such a cutie pie!

Decisions, decisions.....

We've considered moving closer to our married kids and grandkids for several years, and we started remodeling our home a couple of years ago. We still have a fair amount of work to do on our home and yard, but we haven't been focusing as hard on it as I'd like to have. There are always distractions and challenges demanding attention, or so it seems.

A week ago my husband asked me where I'd like to move to, so he can start looking for jobs.

It shouldn't have taken me by surprise, but it did. So now we need to be thinking about where exactly we want to choose. Granted, finding work might be a problem, but I've felt all along that the Lord would open the way, and it's much better to be looking for work while you're still employed.

Aside from figuring out where we'd like to relocate, we need to make some hard decisions on what to keep vs. what to sell or give away. We're all packrats, so this can be a bit harder. The funny thing is that I'd been thinking the best way to declutter would be to think, "Would I want to pay for moving this if we had to move in a month or two?" I think there would be many things I could easily let go out the door if that were the case. If we were to stay here a couple of years, I'd probably be inclined to hang onto more stuff.

I really don't want to declutter twice or thrice, though. I need to just be ruthless and "let go" of things that I've been hanging onto needlessly for years. There's no way I want to keep it all, anyway. The nice thought is that decluttering will certainly make it easier to keep things tidy, whether we move in two months or twelve!

4th of July

We spent Independence Day with our married kids and all our grandkids. While the fireworks weren't as grand as in the DC area, they were still pretty nice, and with a little tweaking using photo software, you can make them even nicer. Above is a composite of three of my favorite fireworks photos put together.

Have you checked your credit card lately?

I made a couple of online purchases at the end of May. I read on a message board Friday that several people who had ordered online from one of the places that I'd ordered, had been having fraud problems with their credit or debit cards that they'd used for their purchase.

So I checked mine. And yes, it had been fraudulently used. Not only that, but either none of the security procedures (that should have raised a fraud alert) were used, OR my identity has been stolen, too. The thief somehow added himself/herself to my account. That shouldn't have been able to happen, because I'm the primary card holder. I'm supposed to be the only one who should have been able to do it. And the thief changed the email address, home address, and telephone number on file. The thief shouldn't have been able to do that either, unless he/she had enough info to convince the credit card company that they were me. In which case, my identity has probably been stolen, too.

Hopefully I caught this early enough to minimize the damage, but my husband had his identity stolen in 2001, and that was a nightmare.

For the record, there is no guarantee that it was the online shopping. It could have been a gas pump I used locally. So now my husband and I will be paying cash for gas, and no more online shopping, either.

It also could have been unrelated to either the online purchase or the gas pump. My husband and I can't help but wonder if it was an inside job at the credit card company since the security precautions appear to have been ignored or overrided.

Whatever the case, the investigation has begun, and a fraud alert has been filed with the credit bureaus. So now we wait and see, and deal with any problems that may arise, one at a time.

As a side note, the guy who stole my husband's identity in 2001 DID get caught and prosecuted. Hopefully this person will be, too.

So, have you checked your credit card lately for anything questionable? If not, do yourself a favor and don't wait till your statement shows up. It might not ever come. Most cases of identity theft aren't discovered for awhile, like a month or two or three. By that time, the thief has done a LOT of damage!

Oh, HAIL!!!

May 14th we got a hailstorm that was the worst I've ever experienced in my 30 years of living in Virginia. The odd thing is that it seems to have hit our little neighborhood the worst. We got hailstones as big as 1.25 inches while a neighborhood east of us got hail about .75 inches, and another neighborhood a little farther to the southwest of us got only rain!

Needless to say, it did some damage. It dinged our siding really bad, and broke one of our security lights. I'm grateful that no windows were broken. I picked up some of the hail from our porch and yard and put it next to a ruler on my stove, so you can see in the above photo how big it was.

Biopsy results

It wasn't malignant yet, for which I was very grateful. However, it wasn't benign, either, and the edges weren't clean, which meant more surgery.

The stitches didn't hold it well enough, so the biopsy site ended up looking almost like a bullet hole. Today the doctor took the rest of her "pound of flesh" -- not really a pound, but I now have an incision that is a little over an inch long. To prevent a recurrance of the incision popping open, I can't do much of anything. It's because of the location, which is a difficult spot, so it's hard to avoid stressing the incision.

It hurts a bit tonight, but at least this should take care of this particular problem so it won't develop into Melanoma.

Time for a check up!

Recently my brother was diagnosed with malignant Melanoma, a type of skin cancer which is easily treated if caught early. In that case, removal is hopefully all that is needed. If left too long, however, Melanoma can be deadly.

Our grandfather had malignant Melanoma. It started with a black mole on his cheek.

Thankfully my brother's Melanoma had not spread. What surprised me, though, was that his Melanoma was red, not black. I didn't realize that Melanoma could be red, white, and blue, or even just different shades of brown.

However, I decided I'd better get checked by a dermatologist. So I had my appointment on Tuesday. The spots that I was worried about were nothing to worry about.

However, the doctor found three moles that were of more concern. Two are to be watched carefully for awhile. The other mole she removed for a biopsy. So now I wait for 7 to 14 days to find out if it's malignant.

If it is, then I'll get to have more pieces of flesh carved out, just as my brother did. It's better than the alternative of nothing being done, though, and letting it spread.

Regardless of how it turns out, I'm suddenly feeling a bit mortal, and rethinking my priorities. I also went and got a full physical from my regular doctor. If anything needs to be fixed, there's no better time to do it than now.

Life can be short. Treasure your loved ones. And get a check-up from your doctor(s). I'm glad I did.

Spring at last

What a difference 6 weeks can make! Although today is a bit cool, and the temperatures haven't been as warm as a couple of days ago (it reached the low 70's), it's glorious to finally have Spring come. The daffodils, crocus, and hyacinths are starting to bloom, and even some of the cherry trees are blossoming!

While I don't know if we'll manage to get down to see the cherry blossoms around the tidal basin this year, the header on my blog is of the cherry blossoms taken in a previous year.

Unfortunately, spring also brings allergies, at least that's what I assume has been giving me grief for the last few weeks.

Allergies or not, though, I'm happy that spring has come at last! I'll try to post a few pictures when I have something to show.

Digging out

The snow finally stopped yesterday, later in the afternoon. My husband and son shoveled out our very long driveway but were too worn out to dig out our cars. Normally we don't work on Sunday, which we keep for worship and family, but we didn't have a choice. It couldn't all be done in one effort.

The final total snowfall appears to have been about 2 feet, give or take a half an inch. That was based on measuring various locations around our home, such as the top of the trash can lid and driveway. Nearby areas reported more than that, so I don't know whether my measurement is accurate or not, but it certainly wasn't less than what I measured. It just might have been more. Wading through the snow in the back yard, it was above my husband's knees.

It was a lot of snow, especially for our area. We're supposed to get more snow in a couple of days, too.

When I went out to take pictures yesterday, I realized that our neighbor's tree had fallen over and just missed possibly damaging our home. It fell between the wall of our house and the corner post that holds up our porch roof. The top of the tree is resting on our concrete porch. There was a glob of snow where the tree grazed the porch roof as it fell into the gap. How thankful we are that it fell into the gap instead of directly against the wall of our house.

All in all, we came through the storm pretty well. We're counting our blessings.

20 inches and still snowing

As of noon today, the snow is at least 20 inches deep, measuring on the top of the trash cans, which is about the most accurate we can get right now. It's still snowing at a pretty good pace, but the wind is picking up a bit more now, too, so it may be harder to measure accurately later on.

Our satellite is covered by snow. We lost our TV coverage last night. We have to get our news by radio or internet at this point. I haven't yet been able to find a site that lists the total snow amounts hour by hour.

The above picture was taken from our front porch. That's as far as I was willing to go, since I don't want to risk my camera. Everything is white, white, white. It's lovely to look at, but I'm just hoping to get through the rest of the storm without losing our power again. When we lose our power, we lose our heat. We were without power this morning from about 5:30 to 9:15. The house got down to about 65 degrees, which isn't too bad. We do have a wood stove style fireplace that can keep the house warm, but due to my asthma problems, it's a last resort. We didn't have to use it, thankfully.

The forecast is for 20 to 30 inches by the end of the storm. We're already at the 20 inch mark, so presumably we'll get at least a few more inches, and maybe the full 30 by tonight.

The final total and more pictures will be posted tomorrow or soon after.

Three Point Shot

Today was Josiah's first basketball game of the season. He has been anxiously awaiting the start of basketball again, which he loves.

During the game, he made a 3 point basket. I lucked out getting the video. It's over in a heartbeat, but if you watch carefully, you can see the ball soar right through the net. You can also hear me scream, "YES!" in the background.

Maori Haka War Chant

The Priest's Quorum (16 to 18 year old Young Men) at church needed a skit about courage, so one of the missionaries (who is of Tongan heritage) taught them the New Zealand Haka War Chant. They performed it together, with Elder Ika leading it. Elder Ika chanted in Maori, and not English. They slapped their legs pretty hard. My son said his legs were bruised the next day!

One of the Maori words sounded like a really bad English swear word, but it really wasn't.

I had taken the video off because it had stopped working, but I'm posting it again.

Happy 2010 !

After taking our teenage son to a dance, I spent the rest of the evening at home on New Year's Eve with my husband. We were watching "The Music Man" and fell asleep sitting side by side on the couch. I'm not sure what woke me up, but we slept through the end of the old year! We woke up briefly for a short time and said, "Happy New Year!" to each other, but went to bed shortly after our son came home at 1:00 a.m.. Thankfully someone else was to bring him home. Evidently neither of us would have been awake or alert enough to be out driving.

Obviously we're not exactly party animals, either.

Still, I really hate being out on the roads late on New Year's Eve, anyway, because there is a higher risk that there will be drunk drivers on the road. Even on New Year's Day (afternoon) when I went out to run an errand, a car was weaving all over the road. I guess he hadn't finished celebrating. If he didn't turn off that road, he would have gone right past the police station. I can't help hoping he got nailed by the cops. I chose to go another way, though, so I'll never know. Several years ago a friend was killed by a drunk driver. I wasn't about to stay in the same vicinity with anyone who was weaving from lane to lane.

With the new year come resolutions. Mine? I'm just dusting off the ones from last year and trying again!