Hello Yes, it's been a while, not much... how 'bout you?

Okay...I've got nothing.
No good excuses
No good explanations
No good reasons...why I've been gone so long, other than to say...I dropped out for a wee bit. : )
It's been before Christmas since I've last blogged.  The holidays took me over the edge. So we're going to start fresh and new, just like SPRING...

OMG!!!
This is the new SPRING!
Okay... it's not quite like this outside as I write this but this snap is only 3 weeks old and it's April 27th!!!
So kids... buckle up... it's going to be a BuMPy ride!
I'm giving you the "Nutshell" version of the last 5 months. (Can that be right??? 5 months???)

Well, here we go...











Without adieu, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the Chatreau-Grifo family...

MEET MISS OLIVE GRIFO!!!

As you might have guessed... She was a Christmas present.  She's a Golden Retriever/Cocker Spaniel and she is the sweetest thing.  To share just a few of the "sweetest" things she's eaten so far...

1. My Coach Purse
2. 4 pairs of my Shoes
3. 3 Wood handled screwdrivers
4. My iPad cover
5. 2 area rugs
6. The bottom flap of a new chair
7. 2 iPhone cords
8. 1 Wooden Salad Bowl
9. Countless pairs of my undergarments...seriously, I lost track!
10. The cord on the vacuum cleaner - completely separated it.

This is just a small sample of her greatness and abilities... the worse part is... you can't get mad at her because she is so stinking cute... here's a few more snaps...

Soooo as all new parents are consumed with their new baby, we are no different.  We giggle at each head turn, we talk about her latest poop style, we stop everything to kiss her and squeeze her as hard as she'll allow.  It's L-O-V-E folks!  No doubt about it.

On that note... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 We've decided that even though the rooms aren't done... that won't stop us from living in them as if they were!  We had 4 beautiful trees this year and even though the pictures of the village were lost in my phone break down, I still found some of the trees... at least some of them.

 For the first time, I had an 8' Christmas Tree with room at the top and it was sitting on a stand that was 3'!!!

 Even decorated the mantel... and had fires in the fireplace...

Here's a great snap of Olive and my granddog, Maeby!!! 

Okay....enough dog talk... well, at least for now.  

 Here we have the diningroom tree and the mantel in the diningroom... the Charlie Brown tree didn't count as one of the official 4 trees...but it sure is cute!

Got an unbelievably gorgeous Chandelier  

 from Blake and Steve It's crystal and it is a SHOW STOPPER!!!
I still shake my head at the friends I have and their willingness to help, give, share and just indulge me with their goodness...
Life is so funny that way... I am thankful and I am full of thanks.
Jealous much?  LOL

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

WE WELCOME IN 2014 

... with the coldest, snowiest, yuckiest weather on record!!!

and... after 18 years with The Arthritis Foundation, I took a new job with Make-A-Wish!!! So I am working with actual people now and when I ask questions, I'm not answering myself, other people talk to me!  It's amazing!!! By the way, it's World Wish Day and you should donate your airline miles or $$$$ to MAKE-A-WISH... and do it now!  (Tell 'em Cherie sent you)

I digress...So in your spare time Cherie, what have you been doing?  Glad you asked... here's a smidgen of what's going on with Martha...

1. Miles Bedroom is, for the most part, done. (pictures to come)
2. I have a laundry room where I can actually do our Laundry and after 6 months at the Laundry Mat, I still tear up when I can put clothes in the washer without putting them in the car first!  (This will be it's own story in a few days)
3. The main floor bathroom is moving along.  I've tiled the floor and the walls are ready for tile this weekend and then we just have to install the new toilet and sink and all the accouterments and it's done
4. The Back-Kitchen will be done in the next two weeks... I'm hoping...
5. The Pots and Pans Room, which WAS going to be George's office has changed and it will now become the China Room...due to a slight addiction/problem/concern that Cherie has...otherwise we'd need to build on an addition and that seems crazy in a house with 22 rooms in it already!
6.  We ripped up the last bit of carpet ... the main stair case... and still need to remove the nails, staples and screws (yes, I said screws) up but it's WAY better with that nastiness gone!!!
7. Bill Howell, the Wandering Troubadour, came back down and installed our beautiful banquette seat that he made out of some lovely oak with plug and all for the back kitchen.
8. Nancy and I took a road trip to "almost New York" for an estate sale!!! Drove there on a sunny Friday after work and came home on Saturday!  We did the trip in 24 hours!  It was AWESOME
9. My phone, our computer and a water pipe all broke in late December, early January... so I have a new phone number, a borrowed computer (thanks Blake) and new basement water pipes...
10. The radiator in front of the "found" bathroom door has been moved out of the way and into the back kitchen so you can access the bathroom.
11. We've been so lucky to have so many friends and family stop in to see us and meet Martha over the past few months and have enjoyed each and every visit! Everyone has been so gracious to act like they don't see the holes in the ceiling and cracks in the walls and the DUST... oh the DUST and just love Martha for her possibilities.... Thank You...Thank You... Thank You.

So I'll close this blog with some snaps, act like I never took the break and we'll move right along...

This was how it looked  BEFORE...(I wonder if this was dirty?)

This is the AFTER...not done but you can see the difference...

This is one side of the "Back Kitchen"... raised floor, new shelf wall made from the bead board we took off the walls in the butler's pantry.  I wanted a shelf for the herbs and tender flowers and this room gets great afternoon/evening sun. I can't wait to get this finished!!!

Stairs with carpet... sideways... don't ask

Stairs without carpet... sideways... again, don't ask : )

Main Floor Bath... You can see the radiator in front of the the door... and the floor

Here you can see the radiator is GONE and the Penny Round tile is in!!!

 This is the now famous... "Almost New York" trip...

 No one does a 24 hour Estate Sale Road Trip like Cherie and Nancy!!! WE RULE IT!!!

Hater's gonna Hate... but we don't negotiate!!!

The Toledo Mom's head down to Cbus to see the Columbus Daughters...Great way to spend a Sunday!

Had a wonderful Easter with our wonderful neighbors...Dave and Kevin and Miss Nancy! Go ahead and hate on my dish selection for the Easter table... Green is a nasty color on you!

Gathered with my sister and brother to celebrate my cousins life!  We are one less in the Cunningham family and that breaks my heart for so many unsaid reasons...but so good to touch my brother!!!

And last but not least... I've got the greatest kids... silly like their father and smart like their mother!!!

So this was a very different blog post... but it was a blog post... so you can stop sending worried notes, and texts and emails... It's all good here at Martha.  I'm falling into a new happy with my new job and I miss you madly.  I promise to be better with my updates and hope this finds you happy and living your path.

Peace my faithful companions...

c

It's about TIME!!!

It's been exactly one month and one day since my last blog and please believe me that it's been hard for me to keep you in the dark this long but I promised George that I wouldn't say anything until we actually SOLD the Harvard house and that meant...going to the closing and CLOSING THE DEAL!!! Foolishly, I agreed and because I know myself...all in or all out..., I knew I couldn't keep my finger from telling everyone that we had buyers for the house...so I just closed it down and put my fingers to the grindstone.

Soooooooooo...........WE SOLD THE HARVARD HOUSE!!!.... It's official and it's a done deal!  Whewwwwwwwwwwwww!  So it is a bit bittersweet that I begin again.  We are 100% out of Harvard and 100% in Martha.  Last night I did the opposite of what I've been doing for the past 5 months... after loading the last of the minutia, and cleaning the house we got in the truck at 2:30am, said goodbye to the holder of our hearts and family for the last 20 years and drove TO Martha.  We rode in silence and I think we both were trying not to let the other see the tears but when George unlocked the front door he looked at me and said, "Well, we start the next chapter now!"  So without further ado...

What have we been doing for the last 31 days?... Packing, packing, more packing, sorting, moving from here to there and back to that room over there ... NO, the other room...ugh... oh wait...there may have been a few updates since the Sewing Room...let's see.

THE MASTER BEDROOM...
(This room comes with a warning...If you do not want to be inundated with overwhelming awe, I suggest you not view these snaps!  This transformation is hard for most people to grasp and I'm just warning you... you're gonna wanna stay here!)


BEFORE...view from the hallway door...(there are 3 doors in this room...that's crazy talk!)

 Fireplace....

 View into the Mini Bar Area going into The Lounge

 So as you can see, we have lots of chipped trim and dirty cream colored walls.  I didn't get any snaps of the ceiling, drats!  It wasn't pretty but that's all been taken care of now...

 George working on ceiling...He looks so happy! : )

 Someone liked borders...the 80's called... they want it back!

 You can sorta see the ceiling in this snap... and you get a better idea of the trim work needed...ugh.

Ceiling light... hmmmmm...

So please fasten your seat belts...it's gonna get bumpy...

Walls get the first coat of "Pink Blush Morning"...

Day light shot with trim, ceiling and walls all painted... see the "hanging light fixture"

 Natural light is wonderful...

The floor was sanded down to barewood and then we "pickled" it.  We used a "pickling white" stain and sealer... It gives it that white washed look... look at the shadow of the Jade plant... I love it!

 Furniture moved in... the bed is READY!!!

 Sorta blurry but you're getting the vibe...

 My new reading area...

 This gives you a good view of the chandelier... and the floor.   The picture in the black frame was done by George when he was in 3rd grade... LOVE LOVE LOVE...

My favorite picture... Taken by Alfred Eisenstadt in Paris... The whole title is... "A wide range of facial expressions on children the moment the dragon is slain"  I absolutely LOVE this picture... It's printed on canvas and measures 30 x 40 to give you the idea of size... I pretend that I'm the one wearing the babushka and that George is the boy with his arm in the air.  
Well, I've fallen asleep twice while trying to finish this... I've got more to show you and promise it won't be so long between posts.  Thanks so much for all your inquires and nice letters and notes.  So glad to have closed one chapter and opened the next and am very thankful that you are along for the ride.
Peace,
Cherie and Martha.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can!

Special News Report:

             Financial News Section - Kentucky Fried Chicken Reports Slump in Soda Sales!  KFC reported that they were very excited when their Diet Pepsi sales really picked up starting in late June!  For some unexplained reason, those sales have completely HALTED! Spokesperson stated that "We saw a HUGE upswing in Diet Pepsi sales and were very excited to see the profit rise, now, for no  reason we understand, they have bottomed out!"  LMAO LMAO LMAO!!!

Sorry, I couldn't help it!  I'm in L-O-V-E with my new Luxury toilet!  It is so so so fun to be able to go the bathroom in your own house!  I want you to remember that and not take your toilet for granted.  It's such a joy to have and I'd be remiss if I didn't say a resounding "Thank You" to the things I take for granted. I even put it on my list of things I'm thankful for!  Just sayin'.

Moving on, so we have entered Labor Day weekend and it's going to be just that... LABOR intensive!  I don't know how many of you have ever put up shower backer board but let me just share that it is nothing like I thought it would be.  It is HEAVY HEAVY and because it has cement ground up into it, it is so dense and hard to drill and while this is wonderful for your shower, it is not so much for your arm, wrist, and shoulders while drilling.  There is also a huge freak out factor because you are drilling 5 holes for all the water spouts and shower heads etc.  I honestly will say this was the most stress I've had while fixing Martha...I actually went back to measure hole to hole 8 times.... If I messed this up, it wasn't going to be pretty and there is no easy fix for this and as an added bonus, the humidity is around 900! At one point, I looked up to the ceiling to see if it was leaking because water droplets were falling onto the board and then I realized that it was just me sweating and it was falling from my forehead!  UGH...George gave me his circle drill bits and I was just drilling and drilling and getting nowhere.  Frustration set it's ugly head on mine and I was about to give up when I thought maybe I should look at the crazy spinning thing to see if it was even working!  I made another mistake that grabbed it to tighten it and burnt my entire palm.  I sank down and cried.  Maybe I'm over my head doing this. Whaaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Self talk time..."Cherie, just go do something else for a minute...you can do this... you just need a break."  I went out into the hallway and removed staples and carpet tack for awhile... then I filled a bucket with WATER and washed the hallway trim and floor!!! That's right "bitches" (I say that with the utmost respect), I FILLED a water bucket with water and Murphy's Soap and washed my hallway!  

It was really late and the hallway pictures didn't turn out so I'll revisit that in the daylight hours but the picture of my water bucket was amazing! I then left for Harvard to go to bed to get some rest and rethink my project.  It had to be the circle cutters!  It just can't be this hard....on my lunch hour I went to Home Depot and talked with my new friend, Jeff.  He told me that the ones I was using were for wood, not cement boards!  Here.  You need need these!  For $17.89, I walked out a new woman!  I will beat these boards!  They do not own ME!  I couldn't wait to get over to Martha and see what would happen but I did have to wait because I had a meeting and a bunch of other work things to do so at 5:04 I drove over there as a woman on a mission... and look what happened...

  That's right... You see it!  There are 5 holes drilled in the perfect spots and that BACKERBOARD is UP!  Can you say UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP?  Yes you can!   So to fresh, remember this...

ewwweeeeehhhhhhhhooooooowwwwwwwwww...

and then it's this............

AND then it's this...........

Hello and HELLO!  Okay, so it's not done but it's UP and it's going and it's going to be completely amazing! So get ready for the next installment to be completely amazed and AMAZED by Cherie the magnificent tile woman!  You better buckle your seat belt... it's going to blow your mind!!!

I've got to get laboring so have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget to thank your toilet for being there for you and have some fun!  I'll be thinking of you and excited to amaze you with more of Martha's beauty.  

Don't forget to stop by if you have a minute. 

Thanks for checking in on us.

Peace,

C

 

We're all Mad here

So...here I am, back from California and ready to go over and see Martha... it's only 2:08am..George says NO! But it is my birthday so I should be able to do whatever I want!!! With that being said, I need to tell you a non-Martha story...with a Martha update or two thrown in for good measure.

This started a little while ago and it wasn't really a story to tell until I went to California.... My hair has been a hot mess since April when I had an experience that was a "different" hair experience. I've been trying to grow my hair out into a "Bob"  all one length and I don't know what's going on but my hair is just not cooperating.  It breaks and is fly away and thin and where there is a color that is in between black and white....some might say that "Grey" word (of course just a few strands) those hairs are thick and have a mind of their own!!!! I told you that this wasn't much of a story...

So I find myself in California for work - National JA Conference which was a wonderful experience for all the kids and their families, and I look at myself and think "what am I thinking with my hair like this?"  UGH!
So when I has some free time, I walked across the street to a Hair and Nail "Salon" (I use the term loosely) and I'm greeted by a small man with ivory slacks and a matching ivory shirt, slicked back black hair, lots of gold jewelry and a very thin mustache who pointed and his finger nails, raised his eyebrows and then tugged on his hair like a question. I said I wanted to get a haircut and he shouted out something in Spanish and all 5 of the ladies sitting in chairs stood up and he waved his arms and one of them came over and took me by the arm and sat me in a chair.

I was looking all around trying to take it in and figure out what was going on. I told Carmaleena that I wanted a short, cute, fresh, YOUNG looking cut.  I did NOT want an old lady cut!  She was nodding the entire time and then said something in Spanish and the next thing I know there are 4 women feeling my hair and sentences rolling off their tongues and tugging and lots of head shaking.  The entire "Salon" is filled with Spanish music and I'm the only customer. She sprays my hair wet with a spray bottle and starts cutting away. I decide not to look while this is going on...it feels lighter and she seems to know what she's doing,  I open my eyes and then I am surprised to see that all of my "colored" hair is on the floor and I'm not longer a blonde but a salt and pepper old lady!  Something I have found is that when you get your hair cut, the stylist always want to make your hair look "NICE".  I don't want my hair to look "NICE"  That's just not me.  I told her that.  She shook her head and gave me the "no"  then she said another thing I didn't understand and I said that I wanted it shorter and she shook her head and put her hand up really high in the air and said NO.  This meant that I am too tall to have really short hair.  So I said okay... I was looking at the mirror and started messing with the style and she slapped my hand down and sprayed some dollar store hair spray on my new do. Nice puffy in the back and some high sides.  hmmmmm... I walked up to the register and the lovely man told me that it would cost $14.00!!!! You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I walked across the street to Target and bought a box of hair color. In 30 minutes, I had a new hair color and a new cut and I'm a new woman...with a new old house...and I look like a woman with a new hair color and a new cut and I'm a new woman...with a new old house...  From here ...there is no telling what I can do!  I went and got my haircut at a place where I don't speak the language by women that had no idea what I was saying and it all worked out! Let that be a lesson for you!

On a Martha note... Fun news... the first thing I've ordered for her arrived while I was gone...getting my haircut... not super exciting but look!!!

This is the shower curtain for the downstairs bath!!!

So So excited!  We have a shower curtain!!!!

Thanks...for letting me ramble on and on...back to Martha tomorrow...promise!

Peace,

C