Category: work

Posted on

Little Joe

Little Joe and his mother have really been so much help and joy to me.  Little Joe likes to feed the chickens and the other animals that he can.  He’s even been helping clean the barn out a bit.  Little fella works really hard but gets very little done because he spends more time talking to the animals.  It’s sheer pleasure to have him out there with me.

Oh he has named each and every new baby we have here.  The twin goats are Billy and Betty.  I have no idea where those names came from but that’s what he named them.  Oh the pygmy donkey was expecting and now has the cutest baby you have ever seen.  Little Joe named her Angel because his mother told him that a donkey carried Mary when she was expecting Baby Jesus.  He said that donkey was an angel and that’s where the name for our baby came from.  It’s that precious!!!

Posted on

Planting the garden

Boy did we get a late start on the vegetable garden this year.  First of all it rained and rained and rained.  You can’t get into a garden with it’s as wet as ours has been lately.  Then when it finally got dry enough to plow and get ready to plant, we had a heck of a time finding plants and seeds.

I am guessing that because of the economy, more and more people are planting gardens this year.  That has to be what it was since there’s usually plenty of plants and seeds available most anywhere you go.  We’ll keep looking for the seeds we haven’t found yet but if it’s much longer, they won’t grow very well because it’s be too late in the season to plant them.

Posted on

Tax season is always a pain

Of course I have a CPA and they keep up on everything throughout the year but tax season is always a pain.  Especially when it comes to paying what you owe if you owe.  Yeah I owed as usual.  Celeste had to do taxes for the first time in her life and she got back quite a bit since she has Little Joe and she didn’t earn much money either.  Being a full time student helped her too.  One things for sure, I hope everyone got their taxes in before the deadline because it’s a mess when you don’t.   You have to file for extensions and all kinds of crap.  Well I got it all done in time.  I sure hope you did too.

Posted on

Some women hate being called this but not me!!!

I have read this before many times but wanted to share it with you because this is who I am.  Yes I have been called this many times because I don’t compromise.  I am my own person and no one is going to change that.  So if that sounds like you, read on!!!

BITCHOLOGY

When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch.

When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch.

When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they call me a bitch.

Being a bitch means I won’t compromise what’s in my heart. It means I live my life MY way. It means I won’t allow anyone to step on me.

When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch.  The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone’s maid, or when I act a little selfish.

It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won’t become anyone elses idea of what they think I ‘should’ be.

I am outspoken, opinionated and determined. I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that! So try to stomp on me, just try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won’t succeed.

And if that makes me a bitch, so be it… I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

B – Babe
I – In
T – Total
C – Control of
H – Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Heck of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle ‘anything’

Posted on

Well we’re moving right along

All of the dry wall is up and now they’re going to put the ceramic tile on the bathroom and kitchen floors.  They’ll start that tomorrow.  The tile in both rooms is the same.  I got a sand or tan color that is sort of mingled so dirt won’t show on it.  When you have a little one running around, you have to think of stuff like that because they can make a mess on a floor and you sure don’t want it to show.

Well I guess I’ll be getting the toilet, bathtub, vanity, sink and all of the other stuff for the bathroom this weekend.  I may as well go ahead and start looking for all of the stuff for the kitchen too.  It’s a good thing that things have been a bit quite around here over the weekends.  No snow means not many people up here for anything.  Oh well, they’ll be back soon enough.

Posted on

Well they were right

Here it is Friday and they’re starting to put up the dry wall in the kitchen.  I showed him some of my ideas and some of them he is incorporating into the job but he said that some of them were great ideas but then showed me better ways to do what I wanted.  That was pretty neat.  One of the things I wanted was since the walls are slanted on the bedroom sides was for him to build the closet and storage spaces in the lower parts of the bedrooms.  He had already come up with most of that but the built in drawers and desk, he hadn’t thought of.

In the living room, I wanted the drywall cut out to make shelves for pictures and things like that.  The shelves wouldn’t be deep enough for books or anything very deep but that’s okay.  He liked that idea too.  Since I could not read the blue prints, I couldn’t tell that most of my ideas, he had already planned into the apartment anyway but like I said, he also had not thought of some of the ideas I had too.  I am loving doing this.  I guess I’ll be shopping this weekend for cabinets, flooring, and all of the light and other fixtures too.

Posted on

The work has begun

Well today they started on the apartment over the garage.  Surprisingly Celeste has not mentioned anything about it.  I thought she would be curious as to what was going on but so far, she hasn’t said a word.  I guess she’s used to me doing stuff around here all the time.  Besides, between school and her other part-time job, she doesn’t have much time when she gets home for anything other than what she does around here, Little Joe and her homework.  A young woman her age shouldn’t have so much on her but she handles it so good.

I have been told by the contractor that by Friday, they should be putting up dry wall.  I guess if I’m going to have any of my ideas used then I better get off of here and draw them up for him so he can hopefully see what I’m wanting and let me know if it can be done or not.

Posted on

All of the rough in materials are here

Well they delivered the wood, nails, wire, plumbing needs and everything else it will take to get everything roughed in yesterday.  I had them put it in the garage so it doesn’t get snowed or rained on.  This morning, my guy was here laying everything off and by now has already made pretty good progress.

All there will be is two bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open living room, kitchen, dining area.  I have a lot of ideas in my head for things to make extra room but I haven’t really mentioned them to Charles yet.  Of course I want all of the comforts of home for them.  He allowed me to show him where I thought everything should be and he did up the plans for it.  I can’t wait until the drywall goes up so it starts looking like an apartment instead of an open room with nothing but a bunch of wall studs up.  I’ll keep you up on the progress.

Posted on

Time to do some remodeling

Celeste and Little Joe need a place of their own.  This isn’t something she is saying, it’s something I realized.  As long as she’s here in one of my rooms, she feels like she’s under my thumb.  I don’t want her to feel that way.  She has her independence from an overbearing father and sure doesn’t need to feel I’m watching her like a hawk either.  I sure don’t want her to leave so I have come up with the perfect solution.

There’s sort of a studio over the 2 car garage.  I have decided to turn it into a two bedroom apartment for her and Little Joe.  That way, she has her own place to call home and can work for me part time to pay for the apartment and everything that goes with it.  She also has a part time weekend job waitressing so she has some extra money of her own.  That will allow her to buy her food for them and pay her own insurance too.

My guy that does all of the work around here for me has already looked at it and said it will run me about $4,000 to do it.  That’s not bad at all so I told him to get the material list together and I’ll take care of it.  I guess you could call this a graduation present for her since she graduates from school this year.  I haven’t told her a thing about it and won’t until she asks what’s going on.  She doesn’t ask many questions so hopefully the apartment will be close to being finished before she asks.  We shall see though.

Posted on

New Years Eve

Well we’re completely booked for New Years Eve through Sunday.  What a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.  I really hope it will snow.  That would only make it better for my guests.  That’s one of the things they look for this time of year, snow.

We will have a buffet set up with all sorts of finger foods, eggnog, wine, and champagne for midnight.  There are plenty of noise makers and Little Joe is one of them!!  He’s been running around since Christmas laughing and squealing like crazy.  I love it too.  Nothing like joy in a child to bring this old house to life.

It’s been a year full of blessings, surprises and additions to not only my bed and breakfast (the barn and animals) but to our lives in the form of Celeste and Little Joe.  I can’t wait to see what the new year brings to us this time.  If it’s half as good as last year, I’ll have another wonderful year.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!