The Sea

Today was just a beautiful day. I sat for many hours in a chair on the sand bar with the gentle waves of Lake Michigan crashing against my legs and torso as I watched the ever still and steady blue horizon. I am a water person, I am just so happy here. It makes me excited about coming back with my family in a few weeks, and about the Pacific in a month. I just want to spend every moment down there. A few photos I've pulled from our time here from Liz Anderson's (cousin) facebook profile:

This is Nat Holzwart (cousin) "frolicking" :)

I'm going to go try and catch the sunset tonight!

In the heat of June

June, the month where it is still a titch light at nine in the evening, and the heat is beginning to get too hot, the mosquitos get you wherever you are so you're constantly looking for where they're breeding to kill all their babies. It sounds harsh, but the bloodsuckers still seem to survive. They're little black ones.

It's been nearly a month since my last post, and well, I have done a lot and very little.

Rearrangements galore! I like it lots better this way.

I just made that bed...Queen of the World....

This is the newly dressed mantle, no longer with a butterfly garden adorning it.

The pool is ready, but is forever trying to return itself to a nasty mess, so that's frustrating. I'm going to need to vacuum it tomorrow. I've already showered today and it would be a sweaty and wet job covered in bug spray and sunscreen. Yaaay.

On Friday we're leaving, and our neighbor's daughter, Olivia, who is maybe 18 or 19, is going to watch the house AND the DOGS. I'm anxious about it, but she has dogs of her own, and really likes dogs, so I think she'll do a good job. I think I'm going to type up a reminder list. I think we're going to pay her like fifteen dollars a day, I'm not really sure if that's too much or little, but if the dogs are alive and well and the house, yard and pool not in complete ruin (like it does on vacations...) then I will be elated. She's going to water the back lawn an hour every other day (just turning it on and coming back later when its stopped to turn the spiggot back off), cleaning out the pool skimmer every other day, three visits with the dogs, and maybe if I'm lucky watering the house plants once, and feeding Duke the black goldfish sporatically. I told her she was more than welcome to use the pool, and I think I'll show her how to use the TV if she wants to watch it while letting the dogs out of their kennels for awhile. Maybe written instructions...

I am pretty much packed, and have started making a pile as I folded and put away clothes today of things Zach may want to take, but he's going to have to go through that tonight and pack it up. I am making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. Yum!

So, I've been day dreaming and drawing up plans for an addition to our house over the western part of the flat roof. I'd like to keep the back part as a patio, but extend everything else that has house beneath it. It would be really nice not to have to keep replacing that silly roof and worrying about it every winter and rain. We would be able to make a full sized master bath with a large walk in shower, tub, and double sinks I believe. That would not be extending the closet much if at all, but I think it's a pretty large walk in. We could keep it in line with the rest of the house by just extending the roof! We would have to talk to contractors and real estate investors to see if it is worth the investment though taking into account eliminating the nightmare of a flat roof we have on that side. The best time to do it would be just before we want to replace the entire top part of our roof, since we'd be redoing a bunch anyway. I'd want to put windows in too. It is getting to be fifteen years old, soooo we shall see.

Anyway, I'll hopefully write again sooner rather than a month later!

Here is a picture from when we first moved in nearly two years ago:

Look how small Max was! And I was thirty pounds heavier with long hair!!!