You Know You Are In a Small Town When....

Call 911...call 911
(You have to read on to understand :)

I have LOTS of updating to do. Life just got crazy again when the boys finally got over swine flu! They did make a full recovery and thankfully Steve and I never were struck!!

This week we are enjoying Spring Break. Whoever decided that students and teachers needed a week off at the beginning of the Spring is a saint and deserves their own celebrated holiday!! I am eternally grateful!!

So, on with the update post! Firstly.... I have to add snow pics. I know the excitement is over for everyone here and we are begging for some warmer weather and spring flowers but I never got around to adding them and all of the Colorado family that read my blog will never believe. So here are a few pictures for y'all....

Ethan Enjoying Hot Chocolate Made Over the Fire.
We were out of electricity for about 24 hours

Okay... enough of that... next.... our new driveway and paint job. I have to admit that I have not taken that many pictures of the house. I really was waiting for spring when I could hang some ferns and put some potted plants on the steps. I am going to take some more pictures when the weather is warmer. I hope you can see how it transformed.

Before....

After....

We finally have a sidewalk!!! I can't tell you how awful the driveway and sidewalk were!!
It was like off-roading just to get to the house!! It looks beautiful!! The kids actually get to play four-square and with sidewalk chalk now!

I will add more when I can decorate it up!! Still... the transformation is amazing! I knew this little house had so much potential.

Now on with the most exciting news and the reason for the title of this post. Our home under construction. Now...most of you are from East Texas and know all of its quirkiness!! I love it here and will NEVER move. But moving to a small community, like Union Grove pop. 458, can sometimes feel downright claustrophobic. Twice in the last week we have felt the pains of small town living. First, we were told by one of my dad's employees who also lives in Union Grove that we are the talk of the town. Everyone at the coffee shop wants to know "What's going on at Doc Howard's place?" "Whose building?" " How big?" and "Are they going to be on the Tour of Gladewater at Christmastime?" (the last one I am considering :). I am sure we will have a flood of people rubber-neckin as they drive by just to get a glimpse of the progress!! Next small town experience.... my mom was at home watching all of the construction in progress when a strange car drives down the driveway (we normally have the gate closed for just these kinds of occurrences but with all of the comings and goings, it was open this time). A lady gets out of the car and walks up to my mom "Hi ( can't you just hear the twang in her voice) I am frum the Upshur County 911 office. I was on my way to the Wal-Mart and notice that you have sum cunstruction goin on ova here. We need to get this updated so that y'all can get 911 service." So... she took down all of our information, went back to her office (after her visit to THE Wal-Mart) and signed us up for 911 service. Now that's hometown treatment. We didn't have to do anything ourselves! This will be some experience I am sure.

Now on with the pictures. We have gone from dirt to framed in about a week! It's crazy how fast this can go... We still don't have any idea when we will move in. We are going to do a lot of the interior work ourselves to save money but it should be in the dry by the end of next week!!

The before site

We will have lots of firewood next winter. We cut down two huge trees!

Dirt work

Foundation framing and rough in plumbing

We didn't get any pictures of the concrete pour :(
We both thought the other one had the camera. Turns out, I did all along !!
But we did get this picture afterward.

We are staining the concrete for our floors and our hand prints are
going to be in the entry way as you come in!

First floor framed

Our house sits up on a hill and we have the most beautiful view both from
the front and the back! My backyard neighbors are the cows.Second floor going up.
Its not really a true 2 story. The living room has vaulted 22ft. ceilings
and there is a loft over the kitchen area.

This is as far as they have gotten! Its so amazing to watch this go up. It still doesn't seem real to me. I told Steve this is like his pregnancy. He conceived this house from nothing, made plans and felt the excitement long before I even realized what was going on. I told him last night I think I feel it kicking !!! It still won't be real to me until we move in!

Just some other random shots... We have done lots of planting this season. Most of you know we have a small vineyard out on our land. We added 17 new vines as well as 8 new fruit trees to the bunch. Now we have 62 grapevines, 5 plum trees, 2 pear trees and 2 apple trees. We are trying to landscape our new home with only plants that can be eaten!! No flower garden for me, just an herb and vegetable. I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!!

Grapes and Apple Trees

Vineyard

Plum Trees

And on just a fun, personal note.... Isaac learned to tie his shoe!!
It took my dad, who is also a lefty, to finally teach him! Thanks BB!!

Well that is about it for our update. On a last note, we still have not moved forward on the adoption front. The only progress made has been our decision to not go with Buckner. It was just not for us. We are thinking now about fostering first and then adopting. We are not sure how this will play out. All we know is that we have a heart for unwanted children and are waiting on God to show us how!! God is big and we continually want to put our faith in Him!!

Sausage-Stuffed Eggplant

One thing I have missed about having time to read others blogs is trying all of the wonderful recipes posted!! I have wanted to try a few....namely Stacey's hot chocolate recipe but just don't have the time. I get emails from allrecipes.com and I am going to try this one tonight! I had to share even though I have not made it yet simply because with all of these ingredients, how could it be bad!!

Oh BTW... I have been off of work for 2 weeks now due to the kids illnesses and I go back tomorrow. I am very reluctant and can not get motivated. Please pray that I can get back into it and really be energetic and organized for the kids in my class. I owe them my best until the end of the year but I already have one foot out the door looking forward to coming home!!

Anyway... hope you enjoy...

Sausage-Stuffed Eggplant


Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Servings: 2

1 (1 1/2 pound) eggplant, halved
lengthwise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
2 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Brush cut sides of eggplant with olive oil and place, cut-side up onto a baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes, then remove and allow to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, brown the Italian sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat; drain off the grease. Place into a mixing bowl, and season with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Stir in bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, and the beaten egg; mix well.
4. Once the roasted eggplant has cooled enough to handle, scoop out the flesh to within 1/2-inch of the skin to create a shell. Roughly chop the eggplant meat, and fold into the sausage mixture. Divide evenly among the two eggplant shells, and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven until the filling has set, and the cheese is bubbly and golden-brown, about 30 minutes. While the eggplant is baking, warm the remaining spaghetti sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat to serve with the eggplant.

Happy Valentines Day To My Love

Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

How to Torture Children

This is our sweet snowman that our neighbors Beth Rose and Mrs. Melton made to help make the boys feel better! What great neighbors we have!!

We have had our first fever free day in 5 days. Now, that doesn't count every other day that one of the boys had fever last week either. But today, I can officially say that we are on the road to recovery. So far, so good as far as Steve and I go too. We both have been juicing up on the vitamins and hopefully our immunities will hold!!

But needless to say, we have cabin fever {{BAD}}! I have not gone anywhere since Monday morning but have not set foot outside since Monday afternoon! But of course, crazy Texas weather has struck again and its snowing outside. Who'd thunk it, right? Of course it would be the morning after the new concrete was poured for our new driveway. The crew was here until midnight waiting for the concrete to cure hard enough to buff it. Now concrete is a funny thing and I don't even presume to know how it works but all I know is that the dryness of the weather has nothing to do with whether or not it hardens. Its a chemical reaction that hardens it not the moisture content. I don't know really what I am saying, I am just repeating what I think I heard from Steve. But what does make a difference is the temperature. Cold is not good for it. So, first thing this morning Steve and I were out, in the snow, putting plastic on the driveway to try to keep in warm. So, the boys of course wanted to go out and play. I couldn't refuse. So, for about 10 minutes, they were out in it. And boy is it snowing! Real snowflakes that are actually sticking and accumulating!

So back to the torture part. Because we have been so sick, I think we have watched 9 movies this week. Not that they could have done much else, with this flu comes horrible aches and a barking cough. Isaac said that he had to touch his head to make sure its not moving because the room was spinning so badly :) So today, we turned off the TV and the torture part came when I told them that today was "Book Day". Oh then the waling commenced. Not reading....its torture. Really that only came from Isaac. Ethan is more of the passive aggressive stomping off and heavy sighing type! Since when is snuggling up by a warm fire when snow if silently falling outside torture? That's my dream day!! After much grumbling and groaning, Isaac picked up another Magic Tree House book and proceeded to read the whole thing in an hour. He even excitedly told me about the whole thing! Ethan was laughing historically at his book and even told me that he was glad I made him read. And so. I win again! Now I am off to read a book together with my wonderfully, bratty :) children!!

Enjoy the snow all you East Texans out there!!

The cement truck was a huge neighborhood hit!
It took 3 to cover the driveway

Part of our new driveway.
Look how shiny as the snow starts to fall!

The neighborhood kids having a snowball fight.
I let the boys join for just a few minutes

The plastic covering the new drive.
Pray...pray...pray that it does not start to peel!

And Another One Down..

This morning we delightfully awoke to the sound of gurgley, wheezing 7 year old who fitfully slept on the floor of our room. I checked his temp and thankfully is was around 100.3. At least within normal range. I stumbled into the kitchen to make my coffee when I heard a faint "Mom" from the boys bedroom. I could tell by the crackly voice that Ethan was not well. Promptly took his temperature and it was 103.4. And another one down and another one down, another one bites the dust was the line that went through my head. I knew there was only a slim chance of Ethan not getting the flu. Well...I doctored him up, snuggled him on the couch and again went in to make my coffee. About 20 minutes later Isaac comes stumbling into the kitchen and faintly says "I think I am going to puke". He runs to the bathroom with no time spare and proceeds to throw up about 4 times. Wow, I am thinking to myself as I help Isaac back to bed, I guess they are really sick. I mean I knew they were but this one is bad! So, I am off for the rest of the week and so are the boys! I am desperately trying for my loyalties to not be divided between work and home. I keep thinking about my boys getting well and then immediately think about the kids at school. Are they learning, are they keeping up with lessons , are they behaving? Its hard to be torn but I know in the end, my family is more important. I can't think about what is waiting for me when I get back. Thankfully, my wonderful sub, Meagan, is so helpful. I have to get her a gift!

On a lighter note, demolition on our driveway has begun. The old oil top driveway is now gone and the workers have started the concrete mold! Very exciting! Here are some pics...

This is picture of the WONDERFUL dinner my neighbor and friend Kim brought over last night to help me out! Even though her family is under the weather too! Kim...YOU ROCK and so did your chicken!

Ethan not well but well enough to watch Dr. Who this morning

This is what Isaac did yesterday. Sit by the window watching the demolition of our sidewalk and read Magic Treehouse. He is trying to earn those Six Flags tickets!

Good by ugly, broken driveway

Sadly enough, you can see the huge craters that hold water in our driveway. Its like off roading every time you drove on it!!