Tim had to go out of town…the only thing left in the office was to paint…so guess who had the GRAND idea to paint it so that I could get the house back into some semblance of order?

Yeah, that would be me…

I started last night after Tim left…I primed it, I caulked it (look out Caulk Master) and then I started on the trim…

Today, I knew that I had to finish the trim but I was just sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired. About 5, Sondra calls and tells me that Michael is coming over to help me. He gets there at 8, I had just finished the trim, and we finished up at 11. My goal was to have it done by Friday when Tim got home.

It’s done. I can now say that I helped to finish the office. It’s a nice feeling to have. I just hope I did everything right…

And now I’m pooped and I have to get to bed…

Until next time..

Heather

PS. I miss Tim

I want to stay here.

Forever.

Shocked to hear that come out of my mouth (er, keyboard)?

Yeah, me too!

In all honesty, I do love it here. And I REALLY don’t want to go home…

but Tim is loading up, so I guess I must…

wonder when we can come back?

Until next time…

Heather

First off, I’m asking for my money back…

I’ll tell you why…

“Newly remodeled” my butt…

Our accomodations….

The “business” center

The common area…and a crappy little 19″ TV…that had the NASCAR race on…

The coffee nook…obviously, you can see where all their money goes…it was probably the highlight of the trip!

Secondly, the brochure said romance. HA! How can there be romance when there is golf and not one, but TWO NASCAR races on??? That channel shouldn’t be allowed on the satellite line up…

Thirdly, I was promised deers, bears and turkeys…We saw one deer, 2 turkeys and no bears. What wasn’t on the brochure was a dead rabbit (that we later found out was a shot cat), a dog eating a turtle and lots of BUGS!

Fourth…I was told there was a pond with LOTS of fish in it, perfect for someone who’s not good at fishing. Yup, I caught no fish! What I did catch were trees and cat tails and lots of slime. I still had the same half of a worm an hour later!

All joking aside, it was a beautiful trip. I had planned on coming up here and being bored out of my skin but I wasn’t. I turned into a total sloth even though I had a lot of writing to do. I did manage to get three articles done but other than that I was out riding with Tim on the Rhino, fishing, eating, or sitting in here playing computer games. I did steal one of Scott’s books too. Luckily it was one that he had already read.

I’ve decided that if Tim wanted to kill me and get rid of my body, he could’ve done it here. No one would’ve ever found me, I’m convinced of that. We found a bone in the creek today and I just said “that’s from the last guy that brought his girlfriend out here.”

I’m still not exactly sure where we are. I know that we’re about 20 miles from Parkersburg, I know that it’s off 77, and I know that the town is called Elizabeth, but it’s not really in the town. If you remember the ex POW Jessica Lynch, she’s from Elizabether. It’s back this road that I’m not sure what happens when two cars have to pass one another. We haven’t run into that problem, and I don’t think it’s a highly travelled road, but it was interesting to drive on it to say the least. I speak as if I’ve driven on it, but I haven’t. I wouldn’t. I’m too scared.

That’s another realization that I’ve come to since arriving at the Outpost. I’m getting girly in my old age. While I realize that getting older is normal, I’m also a little dissappointed in the lack of the thrill seeking that I used to have. For example, I woke up Saturday morning at 8:30…Tim was already up, coffee was made and after my second cup, he asked me if I wanted to go to the pond. We take the Rhino. There are seat belts, I put mine on. Getting to the pond wasn’t so bad, but it was when we left the pond and went exploring through the 135 acres here that we are free to roam. I was scared to death! What’s wrong with me????

But here are some pictures that we took while riding around this morning

Here is where the trail ended. So guess what we did? Well, first we turned around and try to get to the meadow another way but couldn’t find one. So we went back and just went through the creek!

We headed to Parkersburg for the day on Saturday…

We took a ride on the Ohio River to Blennerhasset Island…this family had the worst luck! I was amazed!

And there was a wedding! Had I known, I would’ve dressed nicer. But the bride was on the ferry with us on the trip over and as we ate our lunch, we watched them tie the knot! I think the whole island did! It was quite the spectacle.

There’s the house from atop one of the many hills we were on…

and you really can see forever…it was gorgeous!

I think what I liked the most were the sunsets. We played with the camera alot to get the best pictures and I think we have more pictures of the sunset than we will ever need. It really was breathtaking…

Tim on the Rhino

I even told Tim that we should come here for vacation…I’d come back anytime. It really was a nice escape from reality. There’s no one for miles, and it’s amazing. It just is. Tim even asked me if I was bored and said that we could go home early. Even if I was bored, which I was not, I wouldn’t leave. He loves this nature stuff. But I managed to find my groove here too and I really do love it here.

Now I think I’ll be finding all kinds of weekends for Tim to come up and help Scott so that I can come too. I promise I won’t be underfoot. I’ll just hang out in the business center or on one of the many porches taking it all in.

Thanks Scott for giving us your place for the weekend…we had a wonderful time…

Until next time…

Heather

PS. If you’re REALLY bored…we took LOTS of pictures (there was nothing else to do but take pictures of every tree known to man…) you can see all of them in the gallery.

Sometimes I’m amazed at what comes out of my kids’ mouths, but I think today takes the cake…thus far.

Matthew came in from outside and said that he wanted to grow honeysuckle. I was on the phone and I said to him, “Matthew, I don’t know how to grow honeysuckle.”

He replied, “I do.”

He looked down at these two honeysuckle flowers in his bug box.

Why I asked how, I don’t know, but I did.

He said, “you take a male flower and a female flower and you rub them together.”

While attempting to hold back the laughter I said “Tim knows more about flowers than I do, so I would wait until he gets home and ask him”

Out of the mouths of babes…

Until next time..

Heather

Friday was the first annual International Virtual Assistants Day and I was so tickled to get flowers…not once, but TWICE…

These are from a colleague…

and these are from Tim’s mom…

and of course…Tim is building me a new office…

I’ll have pics of that later!

Until next time…

Heather

I’ve seen this floating around the internet all week and just haven’t gotten a chance to look at it until tonight…I have tears coming out of my eyes that’s how hard I’m laughing…..

It’s 6 minutes, but well worth the watch!!!!!!!!

Until next time…

Heather

I fully believe that certain people shouldn’t use tools. It’s a danger to themselves and others. I do not believe that I should be categorized among these people. Others feel differently.

So why am I bringing this up now?

Over at the Outpost there was an entry about Scott and how he shorted wires when attempting to hang a clock. Not only is this man allowed to use a hammer, he’s allowed to use power tools. This bothers me. Not because he uses them, but because I can’t.

Through the comments on the thread, beginning with mine asking why he was allowed to use a hammer and I was not, it was requested that I explain why I’m not allowed to.

Picture it…Richmond…2003

My first Christmas on my own with out a man to put up the Christmas tree. This is important. There was always someone to pick out the tree and put it in the stand and hang the lights before I began decorating. I grew up believing that this was a man’s duty. While he put up the tree, I was to be going through the Christmas decorations pulling out the ornaments and placing the other knick knacks throughout the house making it festive. It’s how it was done for 26 years of my life.

However, I had made up my mind that we were going to get a Christmas tree and that *I* was going to put it in the stand. I was independant after all. I had moved across the state to a city where I knew no one. I had made these choices. It was time for me to start doing these things for myself and not calling Daddy to come and save me. I had learned how to take the car to the shop for an oil change, after all, surely I could put up a Christmas tree.

I call my dad and ask him about putting up a tree. How do I get it home? Where do I get a tree stand? Dad’s response…”Go to the tree lot, show a little leg, and they’ll take care of you.” That was Dad’s response to everything. He was convinced that all I had to do to get “my way” was flirt. I’m not really for that. I’m not a good flirter with strangers, but I was desparate. The kids and I headed to the tree lot (and really, what good does flirting do when you have two kids in tow?)

We pulled in. I’m ready to play “poor little Heather” and there stand two women. So I guess that I’m not going to be able to play the “oh help me you big burly man” game. Part of me was relieved. The other part was screaming “oh s#$&! How are the kids and I going to get this tree home?”

The women helped us select a tree. I asked them about sawing off the bottom. I knew Dad did that when he got it home, but I didn’t have a saw at home, so after looking at me like I was retarded, she sawed the bottom of the stump off for me a little and she helped me strap it to the car.

Off we went. We headed to Lowe’s. I headed straight to the tree stand section. I looked at the man and said, “I need a tree stand that an idiot can put a tree in.” He looked at me as if I were the only person that had ever looked for an idiot proof stand. He handed me one. My father NEVER paid $25 for a tree stand, but he wasn’t an idiot and could get by with the stands that were cheaper. The man told me “it’s so simple. You just stand it in there and turn the screws”.

We headed back to the house and I told the kids that they needed to clean up first thinking I could buy some time and put the tree in the stand outside (because that’s what dad always did) before I took it in the house. I had a large tree; it didn’t look that big when I was buying it and I did manage to get it in the stand and the screws screwed.

I told Matthew to come out and look at it to tell me if it was straight. He said “a little to the left mom” and I said “your left or my left?” He doesn’t know there are two lefts and we all got confused but we FINALLY got that tree in and straight.

I took it in the house. We had the perfect corner of the living room picked out and there it sat.

I put the lights on, trying very hard to remember how Dad did it. We didn’t use the big bulbs though, we used the twinkling ones; the little ones. I got the lights on and the star (it was connected to the lights) and then I let the kids decorate!

Matthew was standing on top of the coffee table so that he could reach the top of the tree and Samara — well I don’t know what she was doing…I’m sure it was unproductive… Matthew had all the breakable ornaments laid off to the side. He was going to put those up top so we didn’t knock them over.

He had two ornaments left to put on the tree and the stupid thing fell over.

The WHOLE TREE!!! Right onto Matthew and the coffee table.

We picked the tree up and started over as most of the ornaments had fallen off. The tree was relatively straight this time and Matthew again started placing the ornaments on the tree. As he placed the last ornamnet, the damned thing fell again.

By this point in time I was livid over this whole stupid tree thing. If I didn’t have two kids who thought that Santa wouldn’t come if we didn’t have a tree, it would’ve gone out on the curb and I would’ve been done with it!

I remembered Dad bolting the tree to the ceiling one year because Sam kept knocking it over. (This would be Sam, my dog as a kid, not my daughter).

Dad, upon his first visit to my house, purchased several little kits of screws, nails, and picture hangers. I found the picture hanging kit with an eye hook (I think that’s what it’s called) and some precut fishing wire. I hammered the little eye thing in the wall and then took my fishing wire around the tree but it wouldn’t reach. So I yanked the eye out of the wall and hammered it elsewhere.

This went on until I had about 6 holes in the wall and the fishing wire finally fit around the tree and in to the little eye hook. And then I looked at the tree. It was VERY crooked.

I left it like that and the kids decorated it and I said to my father, “unless I have a man to put the tree up next year, I’m getting a fake one.”

He said, “Like hell you will”

I said, “What are you doing the 2nd weekend in December?”

As it turns out, I wasn’t in Richmond, I was here in Roanoke again and Tim’s been my tree putter upper ever since…and that’s why I’m no longer allowed to use a hammer.

Until next time…

Heather

Tim’s really booking….

Here’s my second big window. It’s really that dark. It was the middle of the day…the storms were coming.

Another view of my big window! Now there are 2 and I’ll have LIGHT!!!

He got the glass in and then the sun came out….

A view of both windows….

I’m wondering where Tim learned to wire things…I KNOW that can’t be safe!

This is the picture of the floor that I’ve picked out…no, I’m kidding…it’s what was under the carpet…isn’t it pretty?

It’s all insulated….

and a few of the kids….

Here’s Matthew on the phone with Nana…

More pictures later….

Until next time…

Heather

Today Tim pretty much worked on the dining room/new office all day…here’s what my new windows look like!

We were both so productive today! While he worked on that I finished the eBook that I was contributing to and got it off to the editor and worked on a website that I need to get finished by Wednesday….in fact, we were so productive that we skipped dinner and went right for ice cream!

Until next time…

Heather

So I head to the nail salon this morning like I do every other Saturday morning. I like to get there when they first open so that I don’t have to wait. Normally, I get a pedicure and a manicure, but today had decided on just a manicure. Don’t know why…I just didn’t feel like getting my toes done.

I got them done and went for a brighter color thatn I normally do and went over to put them under the dryer. Another lady sat down and just about the time she asked me how I was, I let out a yawn. I replied, “I’m just so tired this week!” Which is the truth; I’ve been in bed early every night this week and just haven’t wanted to get out of it either in the morning.

She says to me, “Are you in high school?” I about fell over and yelled (probably louder than I should have) “You just made my day! I’m 29 years old and have 2 kids!”

She said, “I thought you were tired from exams this week!”

I couldn’t believe it! That, coupled with Tim telling me I looked “mighty cute” before I left just made my day!

Looks like it’s going to be a good day after all! I’m just going to work on my writing while I listen to the rock concert in the demolition zone. Although he was at Lowe’s pretty early this morning getting 2×4s for the room. And now they are going up!

Until next time…

Heather
(the cute high school kid!)

…tell him your mother is coming!!

You may think I’m kidding, but I’m serious!

I’ve proven it!

Case #1:

I tell Tim my parents are coming and the next day he decides that he’s going to move the front door so when my parents arrive, there is a hole in the front of the house…

Case #2:

I tell Tim my mother is coming and he begins work on the dining room and living room, leaving me with no dining room table. We eat off TV trays when Mom arrives.

I tell Tim that my parents are coming for Matt’s first communion and he GUTS the dining room. When I say GUT, I mean it…I have no walls and no ceiling….

See there you have it! Just tell him your parents are coming and he’ll get right on it!

And you know I’m only kidding! I’m so very greatful that I have someone that can do all this stuff around the house…the house is going to be great!!!!

I’ve posted more pictures of today’s remodeling efforts in the Gallery…you can see them by clicking here.

Until next time…

Heather

I spent some time yesterday emailing back and forth with Scott, Tim’s friend and new blogging partner. Tim works on the real Outpost and I work on the online version. Scott’s got it all covered! But I was telling Scott about how we want to go away for Memorial Day but we have no reservations and Tim won’t tell me where he wants to go. (It has to be remote…no tourist-y places.)

Then, a friend asked me to take her boys to karate practice. I don’t mind doing it at all. Lord knows, she’s rescued me more times than I care to count. The issue was the PTA meeting started at 7, I had to have Samara there by 6:30, Tim was supposed to be cooking dinner and wouldn’t be home until 5, and I had to leave at 6 to go get her boys.

Well, Tim got home and started dinner. We had trout and not the kind that you buy in the store. These were ones that someone (someone we know) caught. At dinner he said, I’ll call Lahr and have him come and get Samara and take her since he’s going too. So there were two of the items on the list that needed to be accomplished. That meant Matthew and I could go get Evan and Noah and run them across town to practice.

Matthew and I accomplished our mission and were to the school by 6:45. We even got a parking space and a seat! That in itself was quite an accomplishment.

But here’s Samara singing in her school play. (She’s on the far right in the pink shirt).

So I get home and get the kids in bed — the school had a GREAT idea to serve cookies and juice after the PTA meeting at 7:45pm…grrr….

but they are in bed and I sit down to finish up a few things and Tim turns to me and says, “Scott called and said his wife is flying to Orlando over Memorial Day and…”

Scott’s wife is a pilot so my immediate response (yell really) was “We’re going to Orlando for Memorial Day?” I’m excited. I have the pictures of me and Winnie the Pooh already taken in my head! I’m very excited.

He says, “Yeah…NO. Scott said that he would go with her and we could go up and stay at his place. We’d have full run of the place and access to the Rhino.”

If you’re picturing a big rhinocerous, don’t feel dumb. I did too, but a Rhino is like a 4 wheeler I think.

So it looks like we’re going to the Outpost for a few days. It’s in the middle of nowhere.

Then he says to me that we could camp out in the meadow. Why would one do this where there’s this house right there with indoor plumbing? But I agreed. I can do it for at least one night and when I asked about the facilities he simply said I could ride the Rhino back to the house. So I’m okay with that. It will be an adventure!

I am excited about going. I’ve seen the pictures and it’s gorgeous up there. In the middle of nowhere, really, and I like that occassionally. But at least I can stop fretting about that. We have plans!

Until next time…

Heather

PS. Tim posted on the blog yesterday….Scroll down….isn’t it great? Now he just needs to do it more often!!!!

I was walking up the driveway at my Mom’s house this evening and came to a dead stop. There on one of the dozens of birdfeeders Mom tends, was a Downy Woodpecker….or a Red Bellied Woodpecker…..or maybe even a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker……I’m not certain. They look the same to me.

Anyway (which should give you a clue as to who is writing this because I didn’t say “Anywho” thankyouverymuch), I began to creep like I was stalking the poor critter. I was just trying to get a closer look. That’s when it dawned on me. I could only imagine what the neighbors must think if they just happened to glance out their window. Then again, if they’re at all familiar with my family, they wouldn’t give it a second thought. I got within 20 feet of him (or her, I wasn’t close enough for sex determination). And, of course, as always, it flew off. Which led me to this question….Why is it that all the pretty, interesting, and/or colorful birds are so elusive? Have you looked at a starling latlely? Looks like a Crow on crack. Every once in awhile I would like to see a flock of Gold finches come through. But then again, they wouldn’t have anywhere to land because the feeders would be full of Doves, Finches, Sparrows, and Wrens. It was then that I remebered the Orange rubberband bracelet I always wear. It simply says, “I am part of the Change.” If I can’t accept Doves, Finches, Sparrows, and Wrens as a gift too precious for words; I’m not being “part of the Change.” I’m knee deep in the “Problem.”

So, after I received this apparent divine enlightenment, I stopped in the yard to just take in scenery and pay a little gratitude to the Big Guy. Feels good sometimes just to get out of me and shake off the dust.

Now that you’ve had a taste of “why Tim shouldn’t post”, I hope you will all urge Heather to lock me out of the blog and never let me post again.

There Honey, I did it! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!…..now may I go back out and play? LOL

Til next time……yeah right….

T

I really think that it needs to be invented. You know, just like the witness protection program, only for mothers. It wouldn’t be for mothers that were being protected from abused husbands and the like and the whole family wouldn’t be protected, just the mother. And it wouldn’t be forever, just for a little while.

But mother’s should have some form of protection. I mean think about it…where do mother’s go to get alone? Not the kitchen…everyone is in and out drinking from the open carton of milk or juice or coming in to get yet another glass out of the cabinet even though they’ve used at least one other during the day.

It’s certainly not the bathroom and I don’t think I’ve peed in peace since I was 20 years old and gave birth to Matthew. Even now when they are at school, Napolean feels the need to escort me in there.

The bedroom? No…that’s where Tim escapes to when the kids are in the living room watching TV. I can’t go in the shed. That’s Tim’s and sacred. Plus I would be too tempted to play with something and could end up hurting myself.

I don’t have a laundry room since that’s in the kitchen. If I went in Samara’s room, I’d either kill myself getting in or out and Matthew’s room is off limits because everything has a place (whether I think it should be there or not) and there’s too big of a chance for me to disturb something.

So where does that leave me to go? To escape? Everyone else has a place of solitude but me…so I think that the Mother’s Protection Program should be implemented…

oh wait…that’s Sondra calling…apparently it has been. It’s a place called Rancho Viejo…no kids, no significant others and all the margaritas you can drink….

Until next time…

Heather

Well my daughter is going to do one of two things in the next year…she’s going either (a) learn to eat what I put on the table or (b) die of starvation. She probably won’t die of starvation, she’ll just continue to buy breakfast and extra goodies at school with her lunch money even though she’s been told repeatedly not to do so.

I’m hoping she’ll learn to eat what I put on the table…it’s really getting old and I don’t ask for much, but a nice family dinner would be nice. I guess I’ll keep dreaming…I seem to be the only one who gives a crap…. But I still want it.

I’ve been going to the chiropractor for a little over a week and I’m feeling better. I have to tell you, I’m really enjoying telling people that my head’s not on straight. He said he can fix that but I’m not sure that I want him to. Well, I do if it makes me feel a little better. He did say that he can’t get the curve back in my neck. That kind of blows because I would like to have curves where I’m supposed to (my neck) and no curves where there shouldn’t be any (like, I don’t know…my hips?) But we’ll see. The neck pain is going away and it’s more of an annoyance now than anything else. He did tell me that I needed to go and get a massage so that’s not so bad right? That might be a nice mother’s day present from my kids!

Matthew is preparing for his First Communion and going through SOLs at school. That stands for Standards of Learning by the way. I really think they should re-evalutate that whole name thing. SOL means something else to me.

I don’t know what else to tell you about what’s going on here. I will tell you that if you’re looking for some very entertaining reading you should go over to Outpost 19b and enjoy the banter back and forth. Scott is a friend of Tim’s and just a great, funny guy. He just needs to post more and then Tim needs to come over here and post here but he says that I’m the album holder. We’ll see…

Until next time…

Heather