A Little Help From Our Friends

Happy Groundhog Day!

The chandelier I ordered to go over the sink. The pineapple was a sign of hospitality at the time Gomer was built.

A painting I did recently.

Do you ever have one of those weeks where so much happened that you have no idea what happened? That's where I am at. It feels like it has been a whirlwind. We are trying to get everything out of the kitchen and dining room to prepare for the work that needs to be done the welcome the cabinets. We moved our two girls into a room together permanently so we could constantly have more guests. My huge desk got moved. All sorts of things have been moved around. I've constantly been in the studio painting. It's been a dream. I paint things and people buy it. Doesn't that blow your mind?

On Sunday, the little country church in our town hosted a 4 town hymn sing. A hymn sing is just like it sounds. People get to sing hymns together. Each church takes a turn singing. After the merriment, everyone eats cookies, drinks coffee, and enjoys each others company. The woman on the piano used to play at Jazz and blues clubs. She's amazing...like our own Ray Charles. You have never heard Amazing Grace like she plays it. My favorite part was the 80 year old woman who did a fist pump after she nailed her hymn. It was great. The most beautiful thing is that it is just people enjoying each other and singing to Jesus. It's beautiful in it's simplicity. We also had some great friends stop by and go with us.

Since this festive merriment, we have been ripping up the floor in the kitchen and removing the old paint from around the windows. Friends are coming to help on our foundation this weekend. They come every Groundhog's Day. It's our annual tradition. It's a bit of a joke here. You see, we never really cared if winter was going to be shorter or longer until we lived in a house with no insulation.

Tastee Freeze is across the street from a home remodeler's favorite store. Every time we pass by we sing the John Cougar Melloncamp ditty about Jack and Diane. There's a line that says, "suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze." After years of singing about it, we finally did what the song says. We had ourselves a chili dog at the Tastee Freeze. Memory complete.

The Hymn Sing.

 The faucet we just ordered to go with the copper sink.

This is the new copper drain/ disposal flange. I thought you needed to see it for two reasons. One, it is lovely for a drain stopper. Two, it costs 70 bucks. I might start forging these out of copper for a living.