Mailbox Money Moment

I'm bursting with good stuff today, so here we go.....

Let's begin with this beautiful little butterfly, shall we?

Adorable, isn't it? That said, I wonder if it is a moth?????

So, I told you just the other day that I let Cheryle choose my color, because, well, she knows her color! Taken in her yard, she moved stuff all around until she has a cohesive color palette in her yard, including this area, that looks fantastic right now.

Well, with the help of this cute little foam roller, I'm finally done painting the french doors. If you've never tried one of these, on your next painting project, do so.

You can see just a wee bit of the bottom of the door showing you how much brighter the new paint is and I could not be any more pleased. That's an old curtain on the floor as my drop cloth. Between our home, and Bill's, we've used our fair share of drop cloths, all old tablecloths, shower curtains, window curtains, and the like. Each one brings back memories of when I thought they were perfect, then as time went on, I decided they weren't. Which, is more than likely, what I'll think of this massive painting project in five or so years. Trouble is, by then, I may not be so anxious to do it myself, after all, I am getting old!

Our french doors have what is called 15 lights--in laymen's terms, windows. I figured, by the time I was done, I'd painted around 240 windows!!! How so, you ask? Two sets, both sides, two times. Go figure.
I'm allowing the paint to harden just a bit before the scraping, although there isn't all that much as I used the 1" brush shown above. Woo hoo!!

It must have been Tuesday, while taking a break for lunch, I went to get the mail, when what to my wondering eyes should appear? Bruce's yearly bonus check!!!! Normally I leave Bruce's mail alone, however, in this instance I saw it was a check from Darden, piquing my curiosity. Then too, I knew he would not mind, so open it I did, and freaked out over what I saw. A mailbox money moment, indeed. When Bruce was working full time, he received a yearly bonus about this time of the year, which truth be told, we mostly put in the bank. When you know money is coming in on a regular basis, you don't get nearly as excited, but you knew that didn't you? Calling him ASAP, he too was both elated, and surprised, as we did not know he would be getting it for the part of the fiscal year he was still working.

So, what did we do later? Why, we went out to eat with a coupon!

These days it is Smokey Bones, on East Colonial Drive, but years and years ago it was a Red Lobster. In fact, the very Red Lobster where we went to celebrate after picking up my wedding ring Bruce finished paying for in cash. No credit cards back then...

My goodness, that was a while ago--in just 11 days we will be celebrating 41 years of married bliss. I so hope our children will be able to say the same in the coming years!

As we were leaving, there was the most incredible sky following a small rainstorm, as evidenced by the tiny puddle with the reflection.

Monday afternoon, while Bruce was working at Church Street, I ran over to Bill's house to see some of the improvements I missed by skipping Saturday's work day. Bobby, his tile guy is working on the kitchen back splash, cutting in the front yard, adjacent to the NEW FENCE Bruce built on Saturday to hide that unsightly pump.

Then too, Herbert finished painting the underside of the back patio awning, another great improvement. Paint, a homeowner's best friend!

Once we finally got the pool in shape, Bill has been doing a great job maintaining it, thankfully, putting me out of a job as the pool person!

Bill took the afternoon off to watch/help Bobby as he did the complicated onyx install behind the range.

Fairly soon there will be tile in the opening, followed by the white trim, and new fancier counter supports. The blue things on the wall are for sconces, yet another future improvement. Let's go back in time for a moment to see what that wall once looked like:

Wow, was that an ugly mess! By the time Matt and Tom come for Thanksgiving, it should be looking very good indeed. Earlier this year, during a stateside visit, Matt was concerned with the size of the project, so it will be a nice surprise to see how far we've come.

You know what? When telling the story of Regina's robbery I got her age wrong--she will soon be turning 78! Imagine, running after a robber at that age? She's something else.

Finally, with the bonus money safely deposited in the bank, Bruce allowed himself a small purchase,

Yup, this is yard day, and as I type he's out there trimming everything in sight with his new clipper attachment! No longer will he have to use the 25 foot extension cord! His back, as I mentioned in my last post, is coming along nicely. And so it is, that Mrs. Camera Crazy must get dressed herself for the yard work. Generally, I put a bathing suit on under my clothes, jumping in the pool at intervals when I think I will burst from the heat!!

May you too, soon have a mailbox money moment...