Baby Z Pictures

M&L came for a visit about the same time as baptisms and it was about that time that baby-Z was one month old. I got to take her one month photos and boy was she CUTE!!! She did so well for being one month and having like a zillion pictures taken. The thing with babies... no matter how cute... is the strange faces that they make. Had to make sure that somewhere admist all the pictures, there was one that would work. I think they turned out very cute. Here's an example or two. :O)






~Olive

Agorama

The L. family went to Agorama as a field trip on one of their last days of school and invited me along. Agorama is a little town-like setup with actively running mills, blacksmith, etc. You can basically go through and learn of the area from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. It was really interesting and thankfully, a beautiful day out to walk around the place.

We even got to take a tour of the home that started the area up and eat ice cream from the 'soda shop'. Yummy!

~Olive

Grandpa's Hammock

At the baby shower/good-bye party, my grandpa found a hammock. In a moment, he decided that he wanted to try out this hammock... despite the fact there were several people around. My cousin K and I couldn't help but get a picture!!!!! Sorry, grandpa. This is what happens when you try something like this in public :O) Though, we're all thankful he did NOT fall out!






~Olive

Goodbye Visit

Since my bro and sis-in-law and soon to be niece/nephew were moving to Hawaii, I headed home for several good-bye parties and a baby shower. It wasn't all sadness though as I got to see special people and even go to Alisha's track meet. I was there for about two and a half weeks, which is THE longest Popeye and I have ever been away from each other. It made it easier since I was with my fam. I hold that it was a prep period for the upcoming weeks of him traveling for work. God was faithful though and we communicated by phone daily and I had a grand time with the family.

Much to my dismay, my leaving fell on the same day they left for Hawaii. Not good timing right?! Nope. We took them to the airport and saw them off, and then stuck around until my plane was ready to go. They were in a decent state when I left but I can't vouch for the ride home. Poor mom and dad. They both always wanted all their kids to grow up and stay around the area, so far, that hasn't happened. I have a feeling, though, the Lord's going to use this for something good and that in the end.... we might just end up not toooooo far away :O) but then there's a lot closer than Hawaii and here right? :O)

~Olive

The Front Yard Gets a Facelift

So while my parents were here, they helped me beautify the front yard. We had pulled most of the grassy plants and put in more flowering items that would bloom at different times from spring to fall. Hopefully they get big and fill in around the trees. Much to my father's dismay (though he was a good sport and helped out!! :O) I wanted to enlarge a soon-to-be mulched area around a tree so sure enough, we had to tear up the sod. Thankfully, we have some weird viney grass that was easy to cut through but by halfway through the size I was going to dig up, definitely shrunk :O)

I am so thankful it was beautiful weather (even if gardening a lot in the rain :O)
Right now it is WAY too hot to do any gardening. Can anyone say 103 degrees! Don't ask me how much humidity. I really try to stay inside and not think about it!


~Olive

Spring Break

My family visited for spring break which was a lot of fun. My grandparents came down and stayed for a few days and then headed to beachier places while my poor family got stuck with Tville. I think we had regardless. We did end up heading to a semi-beach one day.

It was a very difficult task not to have them clean. They were determined to help fix the house up but to be quite honest I was the one ready for a break. I really did appreciate their help though.


The biggest chore was cleaning the blinds, window, and screens... a task I was completely avoiding. They wiped it out in one morning however and I was VERY excited. The screens had been left up during the demolition and putting back together so..... let's just say it didn't matter how clean those window got, I would never have been able to see the outdoors and the sunshine!

Garage Sale

It wasn't too long after moving in that a garage sale was much needed. Popeye's mom and sisters were more than willing to pitch in and help so we had our first garage sale... then our second. Hoping for a final one when the weather cools down a bit. It feels great to purge, especially because I realized how much stuff we had when we had to place it in a storage facility for almost a year! You really begin to understand what you miss and what you can get rid of...... unfortunetely for Popeye, the shoes I missed but, knowing I have way too many, I decided to get ride of a few for our closet floor's sake! :O)

Books was another major one for us. We had five very big boxes of books (ugh they were heavy!) and its so very difficult to part with them ... either though there are MANY that haven't been read. It's always just hard to get rid of them.

Overall the garage sale was a success. L. even found a new outfit to take home with her :O) VERY stylish!


~Olive

Do It Yourself

Popeye's family and us were joking as we were in the final stretch that we were Do-It-Yourselfers (since the only part we had hired out was the plumbing and the kitchen tile). So the girls made a sign and we placed it on a window sill while we worked. :O) Great job ladies

~Olive

House Favorites

So the house is pretty much finished and it feels good to be settle in. I know, I know. I need to take photos and put them up... I will. However, I found this photo of the island being created and had to put it up. This is a team effort island that is one of my favorites in the house. When Popeye and I were discussing what to do with kitchen countertops (because we wanted the kitchen to have pizzaz but didn't want to spend a fortune or formica, etc.) we came up with tile. From there.... I came up with the pattern and Popeye used his fancy program to draw it to scale so we knew dimension (I don't do dimensions AT ALL. You ask Popeye and my father-in-law when we were drawing up house plans!)

Here's it in progress and a pic of me enjoying it :O)




~Olive

Summer Garen

Due to the warmer weather here, we can have three gardens a year... a spring, summer, and fall. From what we hear, the only months that you can't have a garden is January and February. Those must be the recooperating months :O) We missed the spring garden but anxiously awaited the summer. Here are some pictures of us trying to figure out the scheme of things and planting the garden.



Starting a new garden seems quite harder than an established one. Beside fighting grass and weeds, there's the placement of vegetables and such. Growing up, I don't think they varied much even in placement.

So since its been awhile since we've planted and already have been blessed I can give you an update without the wait! We got one really good row of green beans. The other two rows, L. and I accidently planted pole beans without knowing it and they didn't turn out so well. Who would have thought! So we had plenty for fresh eating but were unable to can any... oh well, fall garden!

My mother-in-law said the squash wasn't nearly as good as it should have been, but have never planted squash before, I was very excited with the plant. I even have a few bags frozen!

According to our neighbors we have a good batch of tomatoes (there's didn't turn out so well). However, there didn't seem to be as many tomatoes as we had back home.

Onions and carrots are still growing. I think they're doing well.

Cucumbers turned out ridiculus and we're not sure why. They ended up being gourd looking with a yellow tint. Thankfully our neighbor said hers were doing that too, so it s not our gardening skills but we couldn't bring ourselves to make pickles from them... just too strange looking. I wish I had a picture to show you!

~Olive

Thanks to my dearly departed brother....

My dearly departed (or should I say moved) brother, texted me the other day and asked why there were no updates on our blog. I promptly replied that nothing much exciting had happened and so therefore, I hadn't really posted anything. Upon looking through my camera photos, however, I was proven wrong. My apologies for fibbing. So, there are a major amount of catch-up posts in the next two days. Happy viewing to all and many thanks to Tough Stuff.


~Olive

Popeye's Travels

Popeye has been very busy traveling lately. He's traveled for work about four or five times in the last two months for a week at a time.... in fact he's gone even as I type. It makes me a might nervous that he won't get back in time for our two week sabbatical to our native homeland... which I'm very much looking forward to :O) I already have things planned... as is my nature, and so I don't want to show up too late for any of the adventures.

While he enjoys the trips due to eating out on the company credit card and being needed in various facilities, I don't totally mind it at times. I end up out the his parents house, hanging out with the kids and doing girl things with the fam. This week the girls have friends over so it's fun with even more girls around. They are having a blast and I sincerely hope they get their list of plans finished!!

~Olive

Baptisms

L. and B. were baptised at the end of May and the whole Lindy family got back together. Baby Z. had been born month earlier and with J&B expecting a little one in August the family is definitely growing!!!! We decided that such a rare occasion as this deserved family photo.... unfortunetly we get quite the laugh over sticking mom in the background with all the tall boys in the family.... next time, we'll have her seated :O)

RL Studio Photography

I haven't had much business lately with the photography b/c I missed the bridal show in Jan. However, I have some cute... and handsome :O)... in-laws to take pictures of, so.... here's the link to the new blog site. The other site was a cost cut for now :O)

rlstudiophotography.blogspot.com



~Olive

A Moment of Silence

So there's no pictures yet of the before and after house... well, they WERE already.

We were the lucky recipients of a worm this past week and well, let's just say... all pictures are gone. It's a VERY depressing thing. I had the pictures of the remodel organized (what we did & which months we did them). All are completely gone. I'll take more pictures of the house when its not a tornado in here with the moving and decorating and post them.....

let's have a moment of silence for the pictures.










~Olive

A Beautiful Gardening Day

School didn't call me today to substitute... perhaps they've forgotten about me after their week long spring break and while I should probably be trying to call and see if they need me any time soon, I instead decided to work outside in my flower garden. Popeye has told me more than once that he is NOT a gardener. He doesn't enjoy doing it and I probably won't catch him to quick out doing it.... I, so far in my short gardening encounter, enjoy doing it. At least, enjoy making it as maintenance free as possible.

When my parents were here for a visit, they helped plant some of the most beautiful flowers-- perennials, of course. After they left, we were bombarded with rain.... not quite another flood but we have a stream in the front and a lake in the back of our yard. Two of the beloved plants did not make it. On top of that, because of the rain, we were unable to 'finish' it off....

so.............

this afternoon, I hoed the weeds, laid down a black paper substance, lined with bricks that were already at the house :O), and mulched the two small garden areas in the front yard. Very relaxing and hopefully it will be continually weed free!

I still have much to do!!! There's two other flowerbeds in the front of the house but because of the way the rain falls, Popeye has to lift the sidewalk up so it doesn't wash away my work :O( that would be sad. And the backyard... well, let's just say we haven't touched that at all! We hope to someday make it a little backyard hideaway with lots of privacy and plant beauty. I like this outdoor designing stuff :O)

~Olive

Top 5 Tools List

Since the main stuff is finished with the house, I wanted to quick do a top five list of the tools that I've loved the most while on the job....


1. Wonder Bar!!!!! ( or otherwise known as the pry bar)
2. Step Stool
3. Miter Saw
4. Lambs Wool Paint Roller
5. Senco Drywall Gun

WE'RE APPROVED!!!!!

YES, that day is finally here. Today we were approved at our final inspection at roughly 10:00 AM. We're partially moved in and are looking forward to our first night in our house Sunday night (when we return from Atlanta church).

It's been a rough two weeks getting it ready. There was a real push to get it done and the whole family really pitched in to make it happen. Dad came a lot after work and took some half days to finish things up. Popeye would leave work at 11:30 and head into the house to work until 3 AM and then get back up at 7 AM. I'd work until about 11:00-12:00, and then after work at the school head back in. C. was there when not at work. Mom and the kids came in several times to help clean, scrub, fill nail holes, sweep and sweep some more! Several friends from the church down here came more to help do whatever needed done.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I'll be posting pictures once the internet gets hooked up at the house. Its going to take them a week to get out to us. Until then, thanks for your prayers these last 9 months and we look forward to christening our 'little monster'.

~Olive Oyl

Quick House Update

This is just a quick house update because it's going so fast now!!!

*Paint colors have all been chosen and put up. Only touchups remain.

*Most light fixtures are in place and working!

*All Tile flooring has been laid, grouted, and sealed.

*Wood floor has been boughten and awaiting to be laid.

*Cabinets are almost finished and will be set this week.

*Ceramic Tile has been picked out for Kitchen Countertops per Design (by Popeye and myself!)

*Buying trim tomorrow.

*Laundry room Cabinets finishing priming, ready to paint.

*Carpet guy lined up to lay carpeting as soon as trim is down (next week???)

*Millers doing Kitchen/Bath fixtures next week.



It's amazing how its coming along. Each step we take makes it look more and more finished.


~Olive

School Mixup

I worked a whole week-and-a-half at the school before it was even noticed that I wasn't yet approved with the school board. The school board has to approve the applicant before they are allowed to substitute and they get to go on school payroll. Somehow, I fell through the cracks.

We are required to take a class on substituting. I went to this three hour long class, where they told us there was a board meeting coming up on Tuesday and we should know by then. We were also told to stop by the school and say, 'hey' , so the principals know who we are. Soooooo, a week later (several days after the supposed board meeting) I went around to the schools and let them know who I was and that I would be available for substituting. I didn't make it farther than the HS and they put me to work that day. Since then, I had several calls to work, not only from the HS but from the MS as well. Somehow, there is a big miscommunication here.

So, I'm just waiting. Not that they house doesn't demand a lot of attention, but I can't work until the principal calls and lets me know otherwise. oops!

~Olive