Our "new" downstairs

Wow!  I haven't been blogging for a while.  We have been extremely busy working on our living and dining rooms.   Ed put in new flooring and we painted everything including the dining room paneling.  Eventually, we will get new living room curtains.  It's like we live in a new house.   Ed still has some work to do on the living room but here are a few pictures.

The table is now back in the middle of the dining room and someone gave me a glider which I put where the table is in the picture.
The picture below will give you an idea of what it looked like before:

How awesome it is to walk downstairs in the morning or come in from the outside and see such beautiful rooms!   

~Margarete~ 

Wordless Wednesday

 First snowman of the season.

 Quick pic.

 Trying to get a picture of the birds in the backyard.

 first snowfall

Wordless Wednesday

State Park Field Trip

 Squirrel in our backyard

 Firepit

(Volcano science project in the post below)

Smithsonian Volcano Kit

This was the Smithsonian Volcano kit.  It is not worth $15.00 each.  

1st:  we did try to line up the outside notches around the circles but they would not.  Tom had to use an knive to redo them.

2nd:  The double sided tape would not come apart from it's paer

3rd:  The string was all tangled

4th:  The paint from the kit was not nearly enough to paint the entire volcano...that was a joke.  I used a small bottle of our own brown paint.   

5th:  When the plaster was dry, some of it started to peel off of Ana's volcano.

They did have fun trying to erupt the volcanoes.  We had to use our own baking powder (ended up using baking soda), vinegar, and food coloring

The girls still had fun making these but they definitely needed help.  (Ana is 1 year younger than the recommended age of 8+ / Katie is 9).

Wordless Wednesday

Katie and Ana with their election maps.  They also wrote down each state's abbreviation and electoral # under Obama or Romney.  

 Just a picture of something I liked.

Pretty in Pink

 Do you see the dog in the clouds?

 Tom helping during the election

 Tom's timeline

Thursday

Yesterday, Sheryl asked me what kind of camera I use.  I have a little Canon PowerShot SX130 IS.  Ed got it for me over the net through Target's Black Friday Sale.   It has a lot of functions on it that I still haven't figured out how to use. I've been trying to find the time to sit down and read through the manual and look up info. on the computer.

I'm hoping I will still be able to get some interesting pictures through the winter.

As of this afternoon, I do not have my Kindle Fire.  It decided to not work anymore.  Now I have to make a trip to Best Buy real soon.  I have enjoyed having the KF.  The only problem I have had with it is that I cannot figure out how to post here while being on it.  It will not let me compose.  Well, while I'm at BB maybe I'll ask them.

This has been an interesting week for school/every day life.  Many in our community do not have power including my husband's office, his aunt, and the stores around us.  The public school is still out.  I feel for them because winter hasn't even started yet and they will be out a week tomorrow.  Also, there are many trees down.

We are still waiting for word about my Aunt and Uncle's (actually much older cousins) house, and my Sister-in-law's brother's house in Surf City, Long Beach Island.   The videos I have seen haven't been to great to say the least.

Tom has been working hard at his school work.  His favorite subjects are Biology and Anatomy.  Katie and Ana are finishing up their Bee Lapbook.

We are still working on the living/dining rooms.   It takes a while to get things done.

I am now off to do some dishes and straighten up the kitchen.

Have a good day.

~Margarete~
UPDATE:  Aunt and Uncle's house is still intact. :)
Ed's office better get electricity soon...he is driving me crazy! ~LOL~