Category Archives: Colville

Happy Days in December…

So happy to report that with the help of our son, Dan, the siding on the front of the shop was completed this past Saturday and Sunday. Now all that is left of the siding is the back end.

When he wasn’t helping his dad Dan was taking his kids on a little snow hike.

This next photo is of a snow hike they took at the end of January 2020.

What a difference a year makes. Jaymison can ride in the sled now!

Earlier last week Dan had some helpers in putting up the Christmas lights.

Our temps have been below freezing for several days in a row which makes these outdoor projects a challenge. We are supposed to have a round of snow blow in tomorrow. I have a luncheon to attend and I’ll have to take the roads slow and steady. Thankful for good snow tires and all wheel drive!

Christmas Spirit Hodgepodge

Wednesday Hodgepodge questions that Joyce From This Side of the Pond asks each week are not surprisingly Christmas themed in December. Here we go…

1. What do you think it means to have the holiday spirit?

Going deep on this one and deferring to my hubby:

“It’s having the Spirit of Christ, who convicts of sin and enables faith in that Jesus is who He says He is and has done what He has says He has done. Without the work of the Spirit of Christ we would have no hope for forgiveness, for eternity with Him, for glory.

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

2. What’s one thing you’ve baked this month?

I baked a Chocolate Decadent Bundt cake last week for our card night.

Have you eaten the finished product?

Yes, at the card night last Friday night. It got very good reviews from those who ate it.

How much baking do you do around the holidays?

This varies from year to year. Some years I don’t make any cookies…shock!

What baked sweet something does your family insist is on the menu during this season of the year?

Roolyet is a Russian treat our mom would make every Christmas. A yeast dough rolled with a  walnut filling (walnuts, sugar, egg whites and vanilla). Now that my sister and I perfected the recipe I should make it every Christmas, too.

3. Your most recent ‘half-baked’ idea?

How about thoroughly baked. In January I clicked on the buy button for plane tickets from Seattle to London for September of this year. Then COVID-19 struck us all. Plane tickets, Air BnB deposits and many plans made that had to all be cancelled. Thankfully all was refunded.

4. Where were you the last time you ‘baked’ in the sun?

In my own backyard pulling weeds.

The top ten sunniest destinations in the world (most sun from January-December according to this site) are Dubai, Bali Indonesia, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL, Barbados, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Mauritius, Antiqua, and the Canary Islands Spain. Have you been to any of the cities listed?

I was born in East Los Angeles and raised in the “burbs” of Los Angeles and spent many summers baking on Southern California beaches slathered in Coconut Butter. Craziness!

Which one on the list appeals to you the most?

We do not choose sunny destinations these days. We do not lay in the sun. We look for shade and head straight to an umbrella when the sun is out and the air is hot. The only reason L.A. is appealing these days is because of our loved ones who live there and who we enjoy spending time with.

If the world were not upside down crazy and you could lie on a beach anywhere right now where would you go?

Never mind lying on the beaches, I would choose Jolly Old England any time of the year, walking down a lane instead of lying on a beach!

Now that said, we do enjoy walking on the beach at dawn in the summer and any time of day in the Winter.

5. Today I wish I had more _____________________.

Options for shopping in my little town of Colville.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This past Sunday to Monday we enjoyed a 46th Anniversary night at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Dinner at Beverly’s on the 7th floor made us feel like normal before all this craziness came upon us all.

Our complimentary Anniversary dessert! Vanilla ice cream wrapped in cotton candy with some fruit and dessert bark.

When the Christmas cards are all signed, sealed and delivered to the Post Office I feel like I should get an award. Do you still send cards?

Fun Finale and Farewells

On Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, before Katie and Andrew hit the road for the west side of the mountains, we all had Dear’s Swedish pancakes for breakfast.

Jaymison was still waking up…

He’s my little guy…I love him so…

Laura got a photo of all the guys with their beards, for the record. Andrew plans to have his gone by Christmas.

Goodbyes to Andrew with the spooky eyes and Katie.

Addy loves her aunties and uncles!

Time for the super heroes!

Outside to expend some energy before lunch and our goodbyes to Josh and Laura.

Our daughter-in-laws. We are so thankful for the two of them and what great spouses they are to our sons. Our sons are two blessed men to have them as their helpmates.

Now that November is over we have been busy pulling out Christmas bins and getting our country bungalow looking a lot like Christmas. How about you? Have you started or finished your Christmas decorations?

I’m adding this post to Rose Chintz Cottage: No Place Like Home weekly event until December 21st.

Next week I’ll share some of our Christmas decorating.

Organizing

We have a room off of our Master Bedroom that we have used for storage. On Thursday Dear assembled two storage shelves that we added to this space and then we re-organized the space. It is going to work so much better for us. This room stores all our holiday bins, suitcases, tablecloths, cloth napkins, etc.

At this time the only place we have good reception to talk on our cell phones is our laundry room. Our cell phones are our primary and only phone service we have at this time.

We did a little re-organization and added this comfy chair into our laundry room and it makes me happy even if it overcrowds the room. Now I can sit comfortably and talk away. Enjoy the luxury you might have of talking in any room of your home!

Through the Eyes of A Child…

Yes, it is still Fall but here in Colville we are enjoying snow through the eyes of our little ones.

Can you see Addy looking through her snow wall?

Here she is.

We did some shopping at our local Wal-Mart and at a special artisan pop up in town. We found some special items and will return for more items supporting our locals.

Our snow turned to rain and we ended the afternoon with a wonderful stretch of sunshine.

We drove to Chewelah to enjoy a Mexican meal.

As usual our favorite waiter treated us too well with lots of extras that we didn’t order.

We are getting some sunshine on Saturday so Dear will be able to move ahead with some progress on his shop.

Do you have any special plans for the weekend?

Still White

We still have snow on the ground in our yard. Some has melted off. The roads are clear. We are expecting more snow, though, late on Thursday night into Friday morning. The snow is supposed to turn to rain on Friday as the day progresses.

I’ve heard that some of you are having warmer than usual temperatures right now.

Hope your Friday the Thirteenth is full of good things!

Before the Snow

So happy to report that we have one more side of the shop siding installed. Two more sides to go before Winter sets in. We are expecting some snow tonight and time will tell just how much falls. For now my vehicle is enjoying the covering of the shop. We are so thankful for this progress on the shop!

Did you know that Wal-Mart is staggering their Black Friday savings every week. When I was there on Monday I found a lot of fun savings in the aisles. Fun toys for $5 and $10 dollars. Nice Hotel quality towels for $5. I’m happy to say I restrained myself from buying too much!

Shop Weekend

On Saturday while his daddy helped Gramps start on the shop siding Baba got to play with Jaymison. Addy and her mommy took advantage of being free of a very busy little toddler to help Granny with her yardwork since Granny was recovering from surgery. Dan and Jamie are such a blessing to both sides of the family. I’ve said before that they are not afraid of hard work.

Our little Jaymison is a cuddler for sure which is so sweet!

We spent a good amount of time putting the dollies’ shoes on and taking them off after using the swiffer (a favorite) along with vacuuming. He loves noisy tools.

Outside on Saturday was a learning curve on cutting and setting up the metal siding on the shop.  Dan came back on Sunday to finish the task on this side of the shop. We are expecting some snow this week so the pressure is on to get as much of the siding up as they can.

While the guys worked on the shop I finished clearing out the front planters to get ready for winter. This time I wore a back brace which is something I should remember to do when working on planters, weeding, etc.

It was a relief for Dear and Dan to get this side of the shop done and to understand the process better.

On this day I was able to meet our neighbor’s sister-in-law and exchange phone numbers as our neighbor has been in the hospital for weeks and ended up having to have part of his leg amputated because of a logging accident years ago. He got a prosthetic and will be in rehab for a couple more weeks. It was good to talk and get acquainted and to be a resource for any emergencies that might arise. This same neighbor lost his wife a year ago to cancer.

And then on the same day I was able to meet the neighbor two doors up from us who received a package of ours accidently from FedEx. It’s not as easy to meet country neighbors who are acres apart and I’m very grateful to know a face and a name now.

God is good to us and we see the evidence daily.

Larches

We do love it when the Larches turn golden here at our country bungalow.

Larches are called Tamaracks in other parts of the country.

The windows are in the shop and the service door is also in. Now Dear will move on to trims and then the siding.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Shop Progress

The concrete went in on October 16th. It was sealed on October 17th. After the seal dried I took these photos.

The roof ridge cap was a pain as it took a while to figure out how to anchor the body harness so Dear could work with that safety net while on the steel roof. Finally this past Sunday with the help of our son they managed to get the 4 sections of ridge cap installed and drilled onto the roof.

The view from below of the first section of the ridge cap in place with three more to go.

You can understand my relief for Dear to have this part of the job behind him.

Thank you to Dan who made the work go smoothly and quicker than having Dear working on his own.

Little by little it’s coming together. Today he is working on installing the windows. Soon the steel side panels can be installed. Still hoping to have it enclosed before our next big snow!