We’ve been a little out of the loop lately. I had a quick post to upload back when we left Waco (Saturday morning!), but the internet was being fussy and wanted no parts of it! Since then we’ve been pretty much out of the range of my Verizon aircard, and when I did have service I somehow felt compelled to get my work-work done! Go figure. We have been on the road since Saturday – stopping at some great spots and seeing some wonderful stretches of road and tonight we are just outside of El Paso, TX in a Camping World parking lot waiting for our appointment tomorrow morning for our awning repair. So I have lots to catch you up with – but I’ll start at the beginning and just try to plod along.
First – Lara’s House.
By the end of the week, Lara sat down and said –“I know you guys have been doing all the work, but I’m exhausted!!!” :-)It was a wonderfully busy week and we really did get tons accomplished. Several of you have asked for before-after pictures, and I confess I have very few. I did take a couple of after pictures –
Here are the fences that Gary totally rebuilt –

This is an original picture of the kitchen.

Pretty cute, eh? Lara really likes it – but the lighting in it was really bad. Can you see the little bit of light on the left side of the crown molding? Well there are two fluorescent bulb along there and two along the other side of room. That was it. Gary replaced the ceiling fan with one with a light and then installed some really attractive track-type lighting between the windows. Oh and he also changed out the kitchen fan so it actually worked! And see how the cabinet doors have that interesting grill-type stuff in them for panels? We tried a couple of different options and ended up making panels, painting them white and then putting the grill back on over the painted panel. (it kinda tied the drawer pulls, new lighting fixture (use your imagination!) and cabinets together). I really meant to get a picture of that because it turned out very nicely. I did get those kitchen windows washed, but even that required help from Gary since they were caulked shut!

I did spend a fair bit of time gardening – and again, no really good before-after pictures. Here is a shot from before –

It’s really hard to see how overgrown it is – here is a shot after my day of gardening –

You can’t really see the difference, but here is a shot from the porch to the street –

Oh, those aching thighs!
Her back yard is amazing – again super over-grown with several trees that need to be cut down and/or pruned – but it has a wonderful deck –

I don’t think I can list out all of the stuff Gary got accomplished – everything from figuring out what switch worked what to replacing all outside lighting with motion activated lights. I did get all but 3 boxes unpacked, the rugs shampooed and some of the gardens thinned out!
Even as we left, Gary’s mind was busy making a to-do list for the next time we are there. And as for Lara – I know she’ll miss us, but she probably won’t miss all those trips to Home Depot!

(OK – so he’s not making the list right at this moment!)

Coming up next – the drive to New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns.