The Tree

While working at the home and garden show this last weekend I got a phone call from the husband informing me that the power is out... Bummer... The husband was packing up to leave for a week of work out of town, so I had him pack me up some clothes so I didn't have to deal with no husband and no power on the Baran estate.

I was planning on going to Redding and hanging out with the old friends, and since the power was out and more storms were coming. The husband and I decided I should just drive up there a couple days early.

I drive home on Monday morning to pack some clothes, and come home to this disaster.

You can't really tell from this picture, but this tree is covering our whole driveway and goes all the way up to the road.

Upon further inspection, this is what I see.

A few expletives and some hyper-ventilating here. Get a hold of the husband who tells me to call the insurance company and file the claim...

So, yet again, when crisis comes, the husband is out of town. I don't know what the universe is trying to do, make me a stronger mountain woman according to one friend. Let me give you a few examples of things that happen when the husband is gone...

• Found out I was miscarrying

• Found out my grandpa might not make it through the day

• Got laid off

• Had a tree come through the corner of our house

Oh, and there are more, much more... but, I won't bore you with all of that.

Right now they are saying it is going to be another day or two before the power comes back on. Another huge storm is coming in tonight. I am pretty sure that I am not going to stay in that house until all of the storms have passed and the power comes back on.

Contraband

When I came home from The Indiana, I smuggled in some contraband. Nothing to dangerous in my mind, only some basil. It is doing wonderfully, so I thought I would share it.

Considering this was only 2 or 3 inches tall when I smuggled it into CA, and my house likes to kill all plants, I am very proud of this.

This Week in House Wife

Well, this week in the land of house wife a vacuum was purchased in the Baran home. Not just any vacuum, one with the, "Proper amount of suction," at least according to Craig Ferguson Someone that I barely knew existed until all of a sudden I was unemployed and could stay up as late as I wanted (his show is on after Letterman). Even though I don't stay up that late anymore (not as productive when I sleep in until 11 for some reason), I do DVR his show since I love it that much.

Anyways, back to the vacuum with the proper amount of suction. We got one of these.

I think the husband has used it more than I have (might be one of the best parts). I used it to vacuum up a candle holder my nephews broke without a problem.

It is kind of sad and funny what life becomes. Instead of saving for the next big trip, we were saving for a vacuum cleaner. We opted to buy a nice one since we have gone through one every year and a half since we have known each other. With the five year warranty this baby brings, hopefully we won't have that problem anymore.

For the sake of peace...

My firefighter, does most of the cooking these days. Why? He gets home anywhere between one and three hours before I do most nights. He also does most of the dishes. Why? Because after being gone 11 or 12 hours and only having an hour or two of down time dishes is not the highest priority on my list, plus, he gets home way before me, as mentioned before...

Last night we had my pastors over for dinner. They are helping out with the ceremony and have never really got to know the firefighter. I did do the dishes the night before so it would all be clean, and the firefighter could get right to cooking... However, he did the majority of the work for what turned into my company. He served dinner, cleared the table, served dessert, made coffee... He was a wonderful host. I sat and visited and did none of the work.

I could tell he was frustrated by how the whole evening turned out, and he made a snide comment about me doing the dishes before we went to bed. So, this morning I set my alarm clock for extra early, so I could get up and do dishes before I went to work. I was done with the dishes before he even got out of bed. My point being, this morning for the sake of peace, I got up extra early and did dishes. He was impressed with how well I know him. I told him that knowing him so well is messing with my sleeping schedule.

When I go home tonight now, whatever time that may be, there will not be an argument waiting for me. Totally worth it.

The Mountains

For those who have warm and fuzzy thoughts about living in the mountains, here is a little tid-bit of what I had to deal with on Monday morning as I was leaving for work. This is the firefighters truck.

Our house. We can't park in the driveway when it snows because we won't be able to get out.

And this is my truck. Did I mention that when I opened the door a pile of snow went all over my seat and I could not get it all off, so my seat was wet as I was driving to work, grrr. I took off my jacket to remedy the situation and sat on that.

I should also mention at this point that the firefighter wants me to trade my truck in so that we can get a car. I politely informed him that I do not know how to put on chains, and I am perfectly content never learning that skill. Our compromise: if/when it snows I will take his truck and he will drive the car to put on chains, so perhaps next year about this time there will be a picture of my firefighter trying to put on chains in the snow (evil giggle).

Orange Room

The upstairs bedroom, that is currently the guest bedroom, but will be the master bedroom sometime in the next year (if Steve has his way it will be next week, if I have my way it will be when all of the renovations are done, it is just smarter, I also want to wait until we can afford to furnish it all with furniture I actually like).

Me looking like a big dork while talking on the phone and beginning the painting...
The finished product, it really all is the cream color that is behind me in the picture above, it is just hard to tell without the white wall comparison.

The orange wall, I wanted to paint in a darker orange, but my wonderful firefighter did not, me being the good wifey gave in, and I am sure I will be slightly annoyed with the color as long as we live in the house, but oh well... Anna, we did not get to paint it your color because the closest store that sells Sherwin Williams is two hours away, wasn't going to happen...

Makes me happy

Right now, while I am sitting at work my firefighter is at home painting the guest bedroom so we can have it finished (I use that term loosely) by the time company comes next week. Do you know why else it makes me happy? No? Well, I will tell you. I get to have an orange wall in this room (I don't know why he is complaining, it is the color of fire, and fire makes him happy). And just so everyone does not think that I am lazy, I did paint 3/4 of it on Saturday. I could have finished it on Sunday, but I was to busy driving my wonderful firefighter around after he had had to much to drink (the Cowboys played at 10, they won, but it also means that the party started early).

I'll post pictures soon of my orange wall (soon is another term that I use loosely).