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Happy, Happy Valentines Day

Well you should have seen both Celeste and Little Joe’s faces when they saw the apartment.  Celeste had no idea that the apartment was for her.  She thought it might be for me as a get away from everything.  That would have been a good idea too but she needed to have a place of her own where she could feel at home instead of just ‘staying’ here.  She’s an amazing young woman and I wanted to show her my faith in her.

Little Joe was running from room to room yelling “Mommy come see this” he was so excited and down right tickled at just about every turn.  He absolutely loved his new bedroom.  He came out with a huge smile on his face, looked at me and said “Is this all for me?  Thank you Mamaw April, I love it all” and then gave me a big hug and a kiss.  He loved his bed and the wall mural my friend painted for him of all of the animals he loves so much.  I was quite impressed with the way it turned out myself.

Celeste cried.  She looked at me and said “How am I ever going to be able to repay you for all you have done for Little Joe and I?”  The look on their faces was all the repayment I needed.  I simply told her “Make yourself and Little Joe proud by going to college and making a wonderful life for you and Little Joe.  That’s all the repayment I need.  Well that and having you two in my life, I can’t ask for any more than that.  You have brought more  light and love into my life as I have yours and this is my way of thanking you for that.”

Needless to say, we stood there and cried like a couple of idiots but isn’t love grand?  Love comes in all shapes and sizes.  It comes in many different forms too and people need to realize that.  Love of a friend or child is every bit as important as Love of a husband or wife so cherish all forms of love you have!!!

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Right on schedule

We have decided that the apartment for Celeste has to be completed by Valentines day.  Or at least completed enough that she can move in as my Valentines Day gift to her and Little Joe.  Well if things keep going like they are right now, that is very possible.  The furniture I have ordered online for them is scheduled to be here on the 12th.  I just hope it’s not late.

An artist friend of mine is coming in on the 10 to start the special painting of Little Joe’s room.  She’s going to paint a mural all the way round the room of a forest with all of the animals he loves so much.  He spends as much time as he can with my animals so I thought we would surprise him with the animals in his room.  She does wonderful work and I know Little Joe will love it.

I’m really surprised that Celeste has not mentioned the apartment at all.  I guess she is so used to not being able to ask questions at home that she feels it’s better to just leave it alone.  That actually helps me to make the surprise even better I think.

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Things I believe

I Believe…That just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do love each other.

I Believe… That we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I Believe…That no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe…That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I Believe…That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe…That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe…That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe…That sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe…That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I Believe…That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe…That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you.

I Believe…That even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you – you will find the strength to help.

I Believe…That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Ready for a quiet week

Boy am I ready for a nice quiet week.  Time to take down all of the Christmas decorations and start looking forward to some peace and quiet for a change.  January is typically a slow month for us.  That is unless it snows and then it picks up on the weekends only usually.  We had a blast for New years and I’m so glad to see the old year go just as I’m sure everyone else is.

I lost quite a bit of money in the stock market but I’m not worried.  I know everything will turn around soon enough.  We just have to get the new president sworn in and then things will begin to settle down.  It happens just about every time one party has had the White House for a long time.  It seems like everything goes to pot but then the new party takes over and within 6 months, things settle down.  With as big of a mess as we have this time, it might take longer.  We shall see, huh?

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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!!!!