Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Here's little update from the past couple of weeks. I finally got an iPhone, so these are some of the photos from the last week.

We've got the garden growing. The green beans and corn are really growing fast.

I've been off work all week. I think it's the first time I've been off for a week at home. Usually we go somewhere every time we get the chance, but it was nice to be home for the week. We've been doing a lot of door painting. We got new interior doors a few weeks ago, and we've been slowly painting them white. They came in a nice primer-grey color. Some pics to come soon...

On Wednesday we went out fishing with Scott's parents. We had fun, but didn't catch many fish. I did catch the same needle fish twice. Those things are weird.

Here's a little sunset action on Wednesday night....

And here's Faith and Carter, my niece and nephew, learning to play chess with my father-in-law. So sweet....

Full Moon Paddle

Tonight I was reminded of why I love my job. I got to go on a full-moon kayak tour and get paid for it. It was a gorgeous night with flat water and a beautiful full moon. It was in the Four-Mile Cove area off the Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral.

Chapel Thrill

Scott and I were finally able to make the trip back to Chapel Hill this weekend for a football game - UNC-Wake Forest. He has coached girls basketball for the past few years, and we haven't been able to get away in the fall before. It was a whirlwind weekend, but we had a great time seeing Dad and Judy and Amanda and Robert Stinnett. I was also happy to leave my "big" camera and laptop at home to take a break. So these pics are with my trusty simple Nikon point-and-shoot camera.

We left after work Friday and arrived in Raleigh about midnight. Luckily the game on Saturday was at 3:30 pm, so we had a little time to sleep in. It turned out to be a great game, and we also had fun hanging out on Franklin Street after. The funny thing was that it didn't get crowded until we were heading to the hotel around midnight. I should remember that college kids go out late. The street was full of college students in costume and a plethora of college girls wearing skinny jeans and tall riding boots. As we took our old selves home we laughed about the good ole carefree days spent in Chapel Hill. I miss it, but I'm glad to be a "grown-up" too.

 I had to take a picture of Carroll Hall - home of the journalism school - as we walked through campus.

 .........and a couple of the Bell Tower..................

Notice the season ticket holder taking a nap behind us. Too much fun too early for him.

We also got to see some fall colors, but I only managed to get a picture of it from the air leaving Raleigh.

Zombicon 2011

Last night I was fortunate enough to cover Zombicon for The News-Press. It's an annual event in downtown Fort Myers where zombies invade the streets. Each year it has gotten bigger, and the costumes have gotten more elaborate. There was even a real, legal zombie wedding.

The bride and groom cutting the cake, complete with a Jello brain topper, with a chainsaw.

Our online producer told me today that we haven't had 500,000 page views on a Sunday in a while and the Zombicon photo gallery went a long way to making that happen. So check out the photo gallery here to give it more hits -- please!

Here's a couple more gems from last night.....

Stinnett Visit

I took a much-needed day off this week and spent a few days celebrating the nice weather with the Stinnett family on vacation on Fort Myers Beach. It was my first time on the beach when I wasn't working in more than a year. Sad, I know, but true.
I promised Amanda I would try for a family portrait before dinner Wednesday night. I believe we succeeded, but after the first "pose," Mattie decided she was done and threw up all over herself, Amanda and Robert while Evan was wading into the water and getting his shorts all wet. It's an exercise in patience doing a photo shoot with a one-year-old and three-year-old. Actually they are great kids, and I miss them already. Can't wait to see Amanda and Robert in a few weeks for the UNC-Wake Forest football game!

Bye-Bye Crazy Palm Tree

We have had a crazy ponytail palm tree by the front door that has outgrown it's space and got taller that the roof. It was making the front porch look junky. I finally saw that when I took the photos for the last post. The splotchy paint and moldy buildup on the steps weren't really doing it for us either.

So we borrowed a pressure washer, and Scott had a fun day last Saturday stripping the paint off the porch. Yesterday we also did the back porch and patio. I need to get me a pressure washer. They are awesome. Look at the amazing difference on the steps.

Then last Sunday between football games we removed that crazy palm tree. I don't take too kindly to removing perfectly good trees, but this one needed to go.

 Voila! No palm and much less digging than I thought. We just had to roll that sucker out to the street.

And now the porch looks so much cleaner and open. Next we'll paint the concrete....

Painting the front door

About a month ago, I bought a Living Social deal for 2 hours of handyman service for $49. He helped us deal with some exposed wiring from where we removed some light fixtures and replaced a window sill and the trim on the front door. We put in a new front door about 4 years ago, but never finished the trim. Ghetto, i know. I didn't even bother to take any before pics because these things should have been done long ago....
So after we got our fancy new door trim - well, not really fancy at all - we decided to paint the door. We settled on blue and found a nice color at the hardware store a week ago, but had to find the next best thing at Lowe's. Since it was Labor Day our trusty neighborhood hardware store was closed.

I also found a shot of the house on google maps before we even painted the exterior. When I bought the house it was dingy white with Christmas-tree green trim. Check it out.....

Pretty sweet, huh?


We think the new color looks much better, but the curb appeal still needs work. This is with our white door.....

 This is after one coat of blue. A little streaky, but after three coats, it looked pretty good. But when we removed the painter's tape as seen above, some of the door paint peeled off with it around the lock. boo! So the next morning I put a few coats over the bare spots and called it done.

Next we desperately need the pressure wash the gooey mildew/mold on the stairs and paint them. And of course, weed-eat around the castle wall around the flower beds and pressure wash them. And rip up our stupid piece of a sidewalk and install a new walkway. And I think the ponytail palm might need to be cut down. I hate to kill a tree, but now it's taller than the roof. One day at a time, right?