A Mouse in the House

One of the best things about living in town again has been that we hardly ever get a mouse. All week though I've been telling Joe that I thought we had a mouse....I thought I heard one late one night in the kitchen (our computer desk is in the kitchen). But because we weren't seeing any other "evidence" of a mouse Joe thought I was imagining things. Then I kept finding a nibbled marshmallow on top of the cracker box in the bread drawer. Like the cracker box was someone's little table. Three mornings in a row. Joe suggested that the kids were messing with my mind. And he also asked a good question....where was this mouse getting these big marshmallows? We only had a bag of minis in the drawer. Well today he pulled the drawers out while I was running errands and took pics of what he found.
There were nine marshmallows lined up in there. All nibbled on a little bit. Plus the ones I found each morning. This is a very organized and busy mouse. Now I have to tell you, mice and other little critters give me the creeps when they come inside. And we are setting a trap....poor little guy. Wonder what we should use for bait?

If your hardwoods need refreshing...

I'm sprucing up for Thanksgiving Day and our dining room floor really needs to be refinished. We did them when we moved here 20 years ago, and since we've never had a rug in that room there's 20 years of chair scuff marks. I decided to try Orange Glo's Hardwood Cleaner and Polish and I think it did a pretty good job. I'm sure it won't last forever but it definitely helped cover the scratches and gave the floor a nice shine. I'm going to be looking into refinishing the floors soon.

On other fronts, last Friday Joe spent his day off under the house roto rooting our sewer line which turned out to be full of roots. Poor guy, he was supposed to be deer hunting that day. Things seem to be working fine...thank goodness since we are having Thanksgiving dinner for the family this year.

10\20\30 Meme:
I was tagged for a meme by Dot at Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Tell what you were doing 10/20/30 years ago.
10 years ago I was 35 and a stay at home mom. I loved this time..our daughter was 7 and our son 10. This was a time of scout meetings and PTO. We had been living in this house for 9 years and I was starting to realize that our remodeling was going really slow. We went gang busters for the first 6 years and then I think Joe got burned out on it some. That was frustrating. I was volunteering at church and at a house museum here in town.
20 years ago I was 25 and we were getting ready for Thanksgiving with our brand new baby boy. The thing we were most thankful for was our son's good health...our first baby died of a form of MD, so it was scary to have another. We were living in a tiny town in the country and thinking about moving into the town where we go to church (where we live now). We went to my in-laws for Thanksgiving that year...big family get together that was always a good time.
30 years ago I was 15 and a sophmore at Muncie Central High School in Indiana. I had a crush on the boy I had met 2 summers before and saw each summer (Joe!). That was the year our basketball team went on to win state championship (I'm a Hoosier...that would stick out in my mind!) and the season would have been just beginning. I was a very earnest student who got all A's. I was on the swim team and worked on the school plays and kind of shy. It wouldn't be long and we would be moving again to a new school in Indiana by the next school year. I was (and am) very close with my family which helped make the moving more bearable. That boy I crushed on would help us with that move and we would start dating after that.

I tag Allison, Robolady, and Judy.

Weird Autumn

These pics were taken yesterday in our yard. Ususally in November in central Illinois all the leaves are off the trees but we've been having a lot of warm weather. This is what it looked like yesterday!
Our roses are still blooming!

Window Peeping

Peeping at the windows not in them...although, I'm not above that when I drive by a beautiful old place. As I drove around town and looking for old porch windows I found that, like at our house, most of them have been removed and replaced with less attractive options. But there are a few old goodies left. I love the home these porch windows are on. Stucco with copper gutters...and look at the leaded glass above the casement windows. A bit too fancy for our house though.
These are more what I had in mind. Simple old fashioned casements. Imagine these with the windows and trim painted white and I think it would look great on our porch.
This little house has had some strange things done to it, but somehow the lovely old porch windows have managed to survive. I like the divided lights on these.

I'm not sure when we will get around to doing something like this. There are several more pressing projects in the works already. But it doesn't hurt to be prepared with ideas.

Bleaching the House...

This is what Joe is doing on this beautiful fall day. He's washing the mildew off the house in preparation for painting another section of the front of the house. He uses a little bit of bleach in water and a lot of elbow grease to do it. Thank goodness our beautiful weather his holding out.
Some day I'd love to take out those alumunium windows and that filler siding on the top of them, and put in screens and tall casement windows like you see on old homes that haven't been stripped of the good stuff. We could just do screens and that would be inexpensive to do, but Joe says those windows help keep our home warmer in the winter. They face south and

the porch does get pretty warm on a sunny day. I think I'll carry my camera out today and see what old porches we have around for inspiration.

Reunion

Many years ago (25!) I had a home away from home while I was attending Purdue. I started hanging out at the Baptist Student Foundation and truly the people there became like family while I was at school. Joe used to come and visit on the weekends, and he got to know everyone there too...as well as getting to attend some of the retreats and Bible studies. Even though many of us grew up in Baptist churches around Indiana, this was our first time living our faith away from home. We learned a lot during those years.Much of it due to our truly crazy pastor at The Found...Howie Ness. I'm not sure I've ever met someone who connects better with people of all ages than Howie. He and Jean were a great example of what a christian couple looks like for many of us. Quite a few of us met our mates at The Found. I already knew Joe...but Howie married us there.
This weekend we attended a reunion of folks who attended The Found when Howie was pastor there. It covered many years, so not all of us knew each other...but some of the wonderful folks I went to school with are in the picture below. People from The Found have gone on to serve and lead in churches around the country. I passed out my blog address to a few people there, so if you are an old classmate visiting please email me at louie31 at verizon.net.
After the reunion, Joe and the kids and I walked around campus. I always liked Purdue's campus, but it's more beautiful now than it was then. The kids went with us and they were great about all the reminiscing going on.

People actually used these things? Yes, there really was a time not so long ago when we didn't carry phones in our backpacks.

Joe and I standing on a little terrace at the Union. This was one of my favorite places to study when it was nice out.
If your kids are going to Purdue and looking for a church home I'm sure they are welcome at the Baptist Student Foundation. They have a wonderful pastor in Shawn Zambrows and the nurturing continues.