Jan stained glass project

As of today I have finished my first months stained glass project. It felt good getting back into it after quite a long break. For some reason I just couldn't get motivated. But last night I signed, patina-d and polished my first piece I have done in about two years. Don't get me wrong, I have started some other pieces, at least to the extent of making the pattern and picking the glass but then I seemed to stall out. But now I am inspired to the extent that I am thinking of doing some glass pieces for my cabinet doors- Maybe just a couple on the small doors that no one can reach- A sun on one and a moon on the other. We will see. I will get back on it Sunday. Tomorrow we have family coming for dinner: Chicken enchiladas, Mexican Rice, Refried beans, Stuffed Jalapenos (two varieties), guacamole and flour tortillas-

All in all this has been a good and busy week- Finished a couple of sewing projects and have started the new Christmas Stockings- 1st one: Chillin Santa for Albert. My time frame for them is also one a month. I think it will go smooth until spring/summer and I am outside. I guess I will have to make a schedule!

And another room done

Today we completed the remodel of the mud porch/ new home office. This was a bit of a spur of the moment home improvement. My son-in-law was home sick on Monday so the kids stayed home with him. We quick made a list and ran to get supplies. The layout was planned so all we needed was exact measurements and a supply list and we were out of the house in an hour. Weather was fairly nice on the way there but by the time we were heading home the winds had picked up and the temperature was dropping. Made it home and unloaded. Tuesday Brian was also home with the kids so we emptied our new spot and started constructing! As of this evening we are pretty much settled in. I just have to make curtains.  Not too bad since both of us are still coughing our heads off.  Now tomorrow we start Phase 2: Demolition of the old office-turn it into a temporary playroom.  It is nice that we can still work together and not choke each other.

Our temperature has fallen drastically this week. We only got to 2` today and it won't get much warmer the rest of the week. Our lowest is should be Thursday when the temps are supposed to fall to -21. Brrrr
Nice to know that winter is about half way over. Seed catalogs are all in and Corra and I are making our lists.

My head is full of ideas for our next project-now just to convince my better half how great they are and we can get going on it.

Sunshine on my shoulders

Wow- another month of winter has passed. We have been so busy and the time has flown. Since my last post we have gotten 25 inches of snow. There was my birthday blizzard- we got about 5 1/2 inches of snow that day. We also had rain-which then turned to freezing rain, then to snow and to finish off that day- yes all in one day, the winds picked up. No blizzard but visibility was bad. The holidays were good. Guy, Aubrey and Leslie's families were here for Christmas Eve, which is our normal get together day. Guy was here on Christmas day also. It was a very nice relaxing day. Aubrey's birthday we had another storm- this was the rain/ice/snow/wind day. The tree came down and the house was almost back to normal-

but then I decided to paint the dining room. Well as of yesterday that job was completed- Thank goodness. Albert painted all of the trim and even painted all the bathroom trim. Now it is all bright and fresh. Need to find a few new things for the walls though. Try to keep it interesting.  So with my plans to do a room a month during the winter I am ahead of the game and will try to get the office and playroom done this month also. Then move on to the upstairs or living room in February.  I am holding off on doing anything in our bedroom until summer as we might be moving the french doors and adding a window- Yea--- Spring will be here before we know it.

Then I can be in the garden. Plans for the new layout are coming along great. I am getting lots of good ideas from my gardening sight. I think that I am even going to have enough room for Corra to have here own spot- Just let her do her own thing. We will see how Carter is in the garden this year-He seemed pretty interested in it last year. 

I guess that is about it for now- I am heading to the basement to start a stained glass piece- I am still planning on doing a new piece each month. This one will be for Guy and Joyce- They have bought a house in Kentucky and he will be moving there next month.  The sun is shining here and it is a beautiful 6 degrees, so I am in a good mood. Nothing like the sun to brighten a mood-

Courtyard in winter---Wonder how many plants will survive this?