With the She Shed and the He Shed renovations just about wrapped up, Gary moved to the next phase – making his work area more useful! First he needed to make a solid work surface for his ongoing projects!
(That’s Lizzie parked outside of our RV cover. Our neighbor who owns the lot next to ours let us park Lizzie there while we were getting started on these renovations. We have the best neighbors!)
Next up he tackled the walkways – upgrading from concrete pavers
to a wooden walkway.
This also involved new steps –
And although I have used those stairs regularly for the last two months – I don’t seem to have taken any pictures. But they’ll show up in some future posts. Because you know he isn’t done yet!
The adventure continues…
Category Archives: Life at Bass Lake Lot 205
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And just like that – it’s February!!
Whew! Where did January go? I’ve been thinking that this is the first February in twenty years that we haven’t been working at a SOWER project, but when I did a little checking, turns out I was wrong! We were in Florida twenty years ago and we were about to have our long anticipated Disney World vacation with our whole family!!
We were a much smaller group those days! And while the memories are sweet, I don’t recommend taking a two year old on a Disney vacation! And that’s your travel tip for the month!
But here we are in East Texas, where it was in the 20’s last week and is expected to be in the 70’s the next two days (at least!). Our adjustment to house-life continues, so watch for more installments on the “What’s Dad going to do?” question and more musings on this new life of ours! And trying to figure out where this blog is going!
Have a blessed Lord’s Day tomorrow!
But what is Dad going to do? Part I
Any time that we would talk about life “after SOWERs”, our kids would ask – “But what is Dad going to do?” Let’s face it – SOWERs is a perfect fit for Gary. He gets to work on a variety of projects, and even if that month’s assignment isn’t his most favorite type of project, he never complains – “You can do anything for three weeks!” he’d say. And it was a perfect fit for me too! I got to meet new people, see different areas of the country, watch God working in so many different ways, and as an added bonus – I had a very small house to keep clean! We always had at least a week off each month, a free place to park, and work that was (mostly) geared to our aging bones! Win-Win-Win.
But we knew it wasn’t forever. And the kids were concerned. I think they knew I’d be able to fill my days with computer work, sewing, and reading (and napping?), but Dad’s happy place is building, fixing, and helping (and maybe a bit of napping too?). Well, I’m happy to report that our Little Lindale House has been a pretty perfect fit for both of us! On the one hand, it’s in great shape! It’s keeping me busy just trying to figure out where things are going to go inside (I think I’ve finally got the peanut butter in its forever home), and Gary is busy with some improvements on the outside!
His first project was the shed!
This was pretty much how we found my side –
and despite finding termites and all of the fun stuff that went along with that –
I’m happy to report my “Studio” is mostly outfitted and ready to go!
I haven’t moved all my sewing from Lizzie to its new spot yet – but I’m sure I’ll be tackling those UFO’s (UnFinished Objects) soon! No excuses now!
When Gary needed a break from the sewing room project, he’d work on his side – The Workshop! It also was pretty full when we moved in –
but pictures taken today show that he’s been busy channeling his organizational alter-ego!
(Now that I’m looking at His side – I’m kinda embarrassed about the general disarray on my side! All in good time, I suppose!)
Of course, that just scratches the surface of the “What’s Dad going to do?” answer. But this is long enough, so I’ll save that for Part II!
Stay warm my friends – it’s crazy cold here in Texas, so I know many of you are in a deep freeze! Thanks for stopping by!
We made it to Three!
That’s Day Three of this new year!! I hope you’ve had a good start to this New Year – ours has been a little sniffy and bit cough-y, but we’re still anticipating a good year! But before we get TOO far into this new year, I’d better do a bit of catch-up about our Christmas! Because it was on the quiet side – but delightful nonetheless!
We enjoyed a beautifully simple Christmas Eve gathering, complete with carols, readings and candlelight with our new community.
And then Christmas morning, we got an early start, heading to Waco to spend the day with our Texas kids!
(Gotta love Christmas morning traffic!)
They saved opening their gifts until we arrived (needless to say we were greeted with great joy!).
and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the paper tear and listening to the shouts of glee as presents were opened and enjoyed.
In true Conrad tradition, everyone stayed in their jammies all day! We played a couple rounds of Bingo
(Yes, Gary is taking advantage of the relative quiet and catching a quick snooze!)
and then we settled down to watch the Christmas ‘classic’ (?) ELF.
(First time for me. Maybe next year we can watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Now THAT’s a Christmas Classic!)
It was quite the lovely day!
The next morning Pops and I took Anderson out for an early Birthday breakfast (he turned 7 on the 29th).
Then we took a short Birthday shopping trip to Walmart. In true seven year old fashion, he chose – a fake snake (to scare Meemaw), a slinky (because his brother got one but he didn’t), one of those pin art sensory toys (because it was “so satisfying”?), and of course – Legos. Cause what’s a birthday without some Legos! It was a fun morning, one-on-one with Anderson and we were so glad we had the chance to do it!
We also stopped to see where Josiah is working these days (he started a new job this past summer), so it was fun to see him in is workday habitat (even though it was incredibly quiet given the holiday).
We were heading back to Lindale by early afternoon (not wanting to drive in the dark really is a thing when you hit 70!), and snuggled back into our sweet little house by dusk. It was a quick trip – but oh, so special!
Our first Christmas in Lindale. Filled with community, nearby family, and sweet memories. A very good beginning, I think!
Happy New Year, friends! As we look forward to the newness of this year – may this still be our prayer –
Blessings,
Christmas 2024
For the first time in twenty (20!) years, I am decorating a house for Christmas! Mind you, my Christmas decorations all fit in a large cookie tin (save the sleigh in the header), so I am somewhat limited. But our little tree is up, my eclectic selection of ornaments have been hung, and I have candles (battery operated and they come on magically each evening! So fancy!) in the windows.
I haven’t quite figured out where (or how) to hang my Christmas wall hangings so they are in drape mode so far, but I did pick up a nice wreath at a local thrift shop to hang on the front door.
To say it’s a work in progress would be an understatement! But it’s been fun to conjure up a plan to put in place as I slowly collect more decorations. But not this weekend! We’re ‘out of pocket’ this weekend – apparently there are some critters in Waco that need some attention while the family is away! But maybe I’ll be able to bulk up our Christmas decoration stash while we’re out and about!
So have a great weekend, everyone! We’ll see you next week!
