TN State Fair

Last weekend we went to the TN State Fair. We had been to the state fair in NC once and I was expected something huge (the one in NC was enormous). Instead, it was a small pretty simple fair. There was lots of livestock, agriculture, and food booths, but nothing to be amazed at really. We did see a really, really big pumpkin and a baby cow. :) Even though it was small we still had a good time. :) Here are some pics from the fair.

Art with hay :)

There's little piglets... ha ha

Such a cute cake! I love the scarecrow!

This won first place... pretty awesome!! I wish I could make a cake like that... but then if I did, I wouldn't want to eat it. Ha ha ha!

Stylin'!

Bella!

He was loving the cows!

I just wanted a picture of the nose ring. I used to have one just like it! Ha ha ha!

We all said this looked like a really big version of Fred

Bacon!!!

Enrique said, "Look at it's butt cheeks!"... I said, "Those aren't butt cheeks."

Baaaaaa

Baby cow!

He was super hungry!

Roasted corn on the cob... yum!

He had chili powder all over his face :)

Here is a video of the baby cow eating. :)

Well, that's it for now. :) Hope you enjoyed the pics! And again, as always, please feel free to comment! :) Ciao!!!

Hello, hello, hello!!

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything. Been busy with school mostly. But... one more week of these classes and then I start my very last class before getting my degree! YAY!!!!! I'm taking an advanced writing class. It's been challenging and fun. So far I have had to write two poems, a fable, a realistic short story, and a one act play. Everything that I write in the class has to follow the same theme... which is love. The play has been the most challenging so far but I think my upcoming assignment is going to top it. I have to take some of the pieces I've written in class so far and write a stage adaptation of them. We'll see how it goes. Here is one of the poems I wrote. I figured it would add a little variety to the blog. :) Hope you enjoy!

Amore

Two lanterns shining bright

Against the stars

Of the falling darkness

The warmth of the flames

Consumes the heart

Pounding, burning, radiant

The lanterns touch

Flames burning brighter

Caution guides them not

To ignite the other

Restless winds carry them

Far into the open air

Freedom; sweet abandon

Pray they never fall

So, we've done a couple things. Joe has cleaned up the yard. Enrique helped with one of the flower boxes... he did a pretty darn good job too. Joe had to finish it up though. :) I've started painting the kitchen and Joe is painting the bathroom. He already painted the base boards and trim in the dining room. I really like the color.
 I have made curtains for Gabriella's room and am about to make some for our bathroom. Got some really pretty curtain rods to go in there, only to find out they won't work. :( I guess I will just have to find another room to put them in. Ha ha!
I took some pictures of some of the animals we've seen around here. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the baby snake Joe found. He was pretty cool (even though I don't like snakes at all). Oh, and the huge flippin' spider that he found too. We saw another one today when we were putting the cover on the pool. The thing looked like a flippin' tarantula. Crazy! Some of the things I did get pics of were a bat that took shelter in the ceiling of our upstairs balcony, a salamander that Joe found, some deer crossing the road, and a groundhog/beaver thing. It's very cute but I don't know exactly what it is. I still need to look it up. :)
Anyway, here are some pics of the yard, house, and animals. :)

Here's the little bat that was in our upstairs balcony.

He was sooooo cute!!! :)

Here's the little groundhog guy. Sorry it's not the greatest pic. :(

Some deer that had crossed the road. It's a little fawn and his/her mommy. :)

I actually rolled down my window and yelled, 'Turn around!' so I could get a shot of his face. Ha ha!

Here are some before and after pics of the yard. Joe is amazing! :)

Here is the mess that was on the side of the house. 

Here it is all cleaned up :)

It looks soooo much better!

Remember that crazy cactus?

Well, it's all gone now :)

Now I just need to fix the bird bath :)

It's hard to tell what's even in there. There's so much green! 

Wow! This is definitely my favorite flower box. :)

Weeds!!

Again, I need to fix the birdbath :)

Now, this is the one Enrique took down. He wasn't happy about having to do it at first but was extremely proud of himself afterwards. Joe disposed of the wood and leveled out the dirt.

Gabriella said it didn't even look like it was the same yard. Ha ha ha!

Well, that's it for now. I will post some pics from the State Fair that we went to this past weekend. :) Hope you enjoyed everything! And, as always, feel free to comment (or follow)!! :) 

Catching Up

Hello, everyone! It has been a few days since I have posted anything on here. I've got some cool pictures though. :) Today was Joe's first day of school. He is attending Austin Peay (pronounced 'pee'). Believe me, we make LOTS of jokes. Haha! So, a couple things to tell you (and show you) all about. 

First, we have found what seems to be a house buried in our back yard. LOL Not kidding though. We found fence posts, concrete cylinders, and these cool items. :)

Some glass and tiles.

There are easily 6 boxes worth of tile here. Most of them are in great condition, just dirty.

Holy Crow! Glass! And a lot of it... plus more still in the ground. It is nice thick glass. I am going to see if I can find a place that will take it and make some recycled glass tiles for me. :)

Not bad looking... just dirty.

Here is where Joe (and Enrique) dug everything out of. See all of those bricks? Yup, you know we're gonna use them. :)

Another angle of the hole. We are thinking we should just fill it in before our backyard caves. Ha ha

Joe cleaning up some of the bricks he found

Dirty bricks

They clean up nicely though. :)

Such a nice little pile.... so neat :)

So, there are some of the cool finds so far. Joe also found a nice piece of stone countertop hidden in one of the walls beside the water heater. It does not look like it fits into this house anywhere. It's not very big but it is pretty. Maybe it could be used for a entryway table or something. I'm sure we will find a use for it. :)

Now, on with the pictures. :) I finally finished the pantry. Joe put in new shelves and I painted everything and put clear shelf paper on them. It turned out really nice. 

If you look to the left of the photo, this is our pantry. Yes, it's all dark inside and you can't really tell what it looks like. I just wanted to give you all a visual of where it is in the kitchen. :)

Joe is measuring the shelves. He fixed the ones behind him (those were the only shelves in there) They were not put in well. We couldn't put anything on them because they would fall to one side or the other. 

You know, he really does love to have his picture taken. :)

The finished shelved. I think they turned out really well. :)

That's the pantry after the shelves, before the paint job. Here it is painted. 

So happy that I can put food in here now :)

The shelves and trim are Bitter Chocolate brown and the walls are Rocky Mountain Blue. We are painting the kitchen the same colors (a little worried about the counter tops :/).

Now it makes the floor look REALLY bad. ha ha ha

Okay, so let's see. What else have I got for you all? Oh, here's a good story. We'll take a little break from the pictures. :) 

Enrique stayed the night at a friend's house for the first time since getting here. We, of course, were very happy that Enrique found someone to hang out with that lives right down the road. Well, I had gone to the store with Gabriella. On our way home we were coming up to the creek (which we have to cross to get to our house)... :) and we saw Enrique's friend out on a little bridge that crosses the creek. We asked if Enrique was over there, and he said he was.

Me: "Hey, Enrique!"

Enrique: "Yeah?"

Me: "What are you doing?"

Enrique: "mumble mumble mumble" (had no idea what he was saying. He was down in the creek and I was still in the car.)

Me: "What?"

Friend: "We're playin' Tribe"

Gabriella: "Playing what?"

Friend: "We're showin' him the country way."

Me: "The country way of what?"

Friend: "Well, the country-hillbilly way of doin' things. He says he's a city boy."

Me and Gabriella: "Ooookaaay." We laughed and went home.

It was very funny the way it happened. Enrique has experienced a lot over the past couple of days hanging out with his friend. He has seen a raccoon, a baby copperhead, and caught crawfish in the creek. His friend and his friend's family ate the crawfish for lunch, but Enrique chose to pass. Ha ha ha!!

Alright then, back to the pictures! So, yesterday a group of wild turkeys decided to hang out in our yard. There were a lot of them! And baby ones too... so cute! I went outside to get some pictures and Gabriella said, "Awwwww", and, of course, the turkeys started to take off. Ha ha! These are some of the pictures I got though. 

They are taking off! 

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of them

Run, turkey! Run!

Turkeys always make for an exciting morning. :) You have no idea how badly Enrique wants to hunt one for Thanksgiving this year. Might be a little gamey... I don't know. :)

Lastly, Joe cleaned up the loft and put some things up in the dining room. It looks good. The dining room has kind of become our "Europe" room. It seems everything that's up on the walls in there has come from our time in Italy. :)

Desk in the loft

No more stuff on the floor :)

Our new couch upstairs

Dining room

Our plates from around Italy and Europe. It is a little hard to see.  I will try to get a better pic up here soon. 

Our collection of fine Italian wine and our beautiful Italian artwork. :)

Well, I think that's all for now. I will try to get more up soon. I have been battling with our pool. Trying to fill it up so I can close it up for the winter months (no time really to swim right now anyway) and the water has been giving me some trouble. Hmmmm. I think it's because Joe turns the pump off to the well at night (or when it's not in use), so when we go to use it there's no water in the well. It will get done... it just may take a little longer. :) 

I will post again soon! As always, I love to read all of your comments! Get a Google account and follow my blog! :) Ciao!