Saturday, October 31, 2009

Another Drive-By Home Tour



     This afternoon we took a drive through a few more extremely nice subdivisions.  We saw many lovely homes and one monster home that wouldn't fit entirely in a photo!  I think the house above is my favorite of the day.  It even has a metal roof, and I don't think it looks half bad.  The best part is that it has a turret - something we are definitely considering.
     The house below was prettier in person.  This photo doesn't really do it justice.  I've been taking all these photos with my iPhone, and it's hard to get a good shot through the windows of a moving car!

     The "monster house" is below.  I couldn't even fit the entire house in the shot.  Notice half of the front door is on the left, which means there's an entire other side of the house not in the photo!  It must be at least 5000 square feet.  You can click on any of these photos to enlarge them.  If you click on the "monster house," you'll be able to see the drive-thru archway on the left side of the photo. 

     Since we're planning on building a walkout basement, we look at the backs of houses too.  The one below caught our eye.




Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Busy as a Bee!


     I thought I'd post a picture of some dear teacher/friends of mine.  Tomorrow and Friday are parent/teacher conferences at our school, and we are always so busy every year on these two days.  It's such an enjoyable treat to sit down for a few minutes with each child's parent.  It truly gives us insight into the lives the children have outside our classroom.  Please keep my colleagues and me in your thoughts for these next couple of days.  You may not hear from me until the weekend!  

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Childhood Memory


     What are you doing this evening?  Hubby and I are watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"  Growing up, neither of us ever missed any of those classic Charlie Brown holiday shows.  I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the show..."I got a rock!"

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Home Tour


     Lately we've started driving through neighborhoods looking at ideas for our future house.  We certainly have seen some "beauties."  I thought I'd post some of them here today.  Yes, I am aware that we are not building a two story, but I just had to include this house.  I adore it!  I especially like that way that it's not "all roof."  It seems to me that a lot of the houses built these days are more roof than house.


     I like the way the porch is styled in the photo below.  The house itself is not great, just the porch.  Now that I have a better look at it, I think the pillars seem a little skimpy.  They probably should be a little beefier. 


     Below, the close up view of the porch looks a little more pleasing to my eye.  I don't like that it's very dark on the porch, though.


     I really like the entry of the house below.  Hubby was not a fan of all the landscaping.  I agree with him.  I think they must have spent a pretty penny on it when they first built, and now they don't want to thin it out and burn it.  The entry is so cute, but it's hidden behind all the bushes. 

See, here's a close up of the lovely entry.



Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lovely Leaves


    Last night Hubby mentioned how colorful the leaves were as he drove home from work, so today he decided that we should take a drive and take some pictures.  Notice the wheat field in the foreground of the photo below.  How midwestern!

If you look closely at both the first photo in this post and the photo below, you'll be able to see a bluff peeking through the foliage.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Fall is Here

     Did you notice the new photo in blog title?  See anything different?  Last month we had railings added to the front porch.  I've always thought our house was calling for them.  It just took thirteen years to convince Hubby that's what the house needed.  I really like the way it turned out.  I'm not sure that Hubby is completely sold on them yet, though.
     These mums were prettier last week before we received all the rain.  Hubby bought them.  They're called monster mums, and they are really much larger in person.
     Did a bit of fall decorating in the house last week.  The photo below is our fireplace mantle all dressed for the season.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

More Photos from Branson



It occurs to me that I really never said why we went to Branson in the first place.  You see, every year my dad 's army unit from World War II, the 12th Armored Division, holds a reunion.  This year the reunion was in Branson.  The photo you see above shows my dad, second from the left, discussing the days immediately following their capture in Germany.  Their t-shirts show a nickname for them that someone came up with.  It seems that the Germans made them clean bricks during their capture, so the fronts of the t-shirts say "Hanover Brick Cleaners."  I'm not sure what the back says.
Of course, you must "ride the Ducks" in Branson.  Be careful, though.  You may end up singing the duck song for several days afterward.


Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Summer Vacation Revisited


In August, exactly one week before school began, we traveled to Branson, Missouri for a few days.   While there, we visited with several of my father's World War II army buddies.  The photos here are from that trip.  The photo above is the very cute "towel swan" that greeted us in our hotel room on the first day.

One of the highlights our time in Branson was a day trip on along the Scenic Branson Railway.  Above are my parents with the conductor and below you see my Hubby and me relaxing in the historic first class car.  In the 1940s, this car carried famous celebrities and the wealthy from Miami to Chicago.  

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Our Lot in Early Fall


Curious as to how much the leaves have changed, we visited the lot today.  As you can see, the trees are still holding on to their "green-ness".   As we walked to the bottom of the hill, we caught a glimpse of something, possibly a ground hog, scurrying into the trees.  We both are quite aware of all the hard work we have ahead of us.  That creek will certainly need to be cleared out 

The photo above looks across the back of our lot, along the tree line.  I am on one end of the property, with the camera, and Hubby is halfway to the other end of the property.  Can you spot him?  As you can probably tell from the hill, this piece of land is going to require a walkout basement.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The "Plan"


Oh, my!  How long has it been since my last blog?!  Waaaaay too long, I'd say.  This one will be short because I've not much to say.  I just wanted to post a picture of the lot that Hubby and I recently bought.  It's a little over an acre, with a few trees and a small creek running behind it. The plan is to build a lovely retirement home on it.  Let the fun begin!  I can just hear us now, "What style outlet covers do you prefer, Dear?"  I don't know, what do you like, Honey?"  Ha!  Ha!  Seriously...wish us luck!