August 30th

Wow! It's hard to believe we've been here for two months. I started work this past week at an engineering company. I really like the work. We use a 3D modeling program to create the drawings and it's really interesting work. The company is building modules and pressure vessels that will become an oil processing plant on site in Canada. It's a contract job that I got through Monster.com. I've been contacted five times by staffing agencies in the last week! Looks like Pete is going to be hired by South Carolina Dept of Natural Resources. They are looking for a maintenance mechanic and Pete is that!

Here is a picture of the new entertainment center we got two weeks ago. I haven't finished putting things on it yet. Haven't decided what to use where! This is just weird. We've gotten this leather furniture. Today, we picked some pillows to use with it and they changed the tone of the leather from brown to PLUM!!

So hope you are all happy and healthy. Would love to hear from you, doesn't need to be important, just let me know you're still there.

Love ya, Yvonne

The Attack on the Azaleas

Before I tell you about the Azaleas, allow me to show you the lovely paint in the living room and hall. I was very surprised by how much I LOVE this paint! We both do. It feels very different than before, roomier and brighter but more peaceful, too.

You've seen the first photo that I included of the front of the house. I'll take another shortly to show you how much we chopped off the azaleas. Kicker is that there is a VICIOUS, SKIN RIPPING, GLOVE TEARING VINE growing in the azaleas and up the walls. It's one of those awful things that has running roots underground. So it just pops up everywhere. Of course, the only way to get rid of it is to get all of the roots up. Since I am unwilling to dig up the entire area, I'll be happy to take suggestions on handling this problem. I'm only willing to ignore it for a short while and then I can't stand it anymore. Shoot, one of the azaleas is now HALF its previous width since I pulled all of the vine off it. Yes, Pete did help but I had on gloves and he didn't. I'm not at all sure which of us was smarter.... Next spring the azaleas will bloom beautifully and look Mah-ve-lous. All of a sudden I could hear Michael saying, "throw me into that Briar patch!" I'm sure the vine is one of those briars! Michael's reference was about the choir falling back into our familiar habits of singing less beautifully than we could. Just like Br'er Rabbit was comfortable in that briar patch. I guess you'd have to be a rabbit cause humans sure wouldn't be comforatble there!!

Well, I guess that's enough chatting for today. Though I do need to tell you about this biscuit recipe my Mother sent. Self rising flour, baking soda, vegetable oil and SOUR Cream! Less fat and tastes Great! I'll post the amounts later. I've got to get busy!