Thanksgiving and More House Buying

Well, I missed a couple of weeks because I was out of town and then had family here. But I'm back now!

We had some bad news the week before Christmas. Andy has been having dizzy spells and other miscellaneous issues and went to the doctor to find out what the problem is. Turns out he has a bad valve, just like Sara, and will have to have open heart surgery. The good news is he doesn't have to have it right now. At the moment we are on a "come back once a year" plan. I think Andy actually feels better knowing that he is not just being a hypochondriac. It will not be a fun thing to go through and I am not looking forward to it, but I am sure he will be ok in the end.

In happier news, Dad, Shannie, and Melea came down the weekend before Thanksgiving for a visit. We had a good time. Went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Opry. Made a trip to the Pancake Pantry, of course. Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, and Vince Gill were all at the Opry, so we picked a good night. This was the first time Dad had seen the house since before we bought it, and the first time that Shannie and Melea had seen it at all. Dad walked into the kitchen and said, "Now this gives you an idea of what it was like." Add that to Jenni imagining that there were bugs in the sugar and I am now newly resolved to make some progress in the kitchen. The kitchen floor is next. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Dad and Shannie left on Sunday and I spent the first part of my Thanksgiving week off working on the guest room. We bought new curtains, bed linens, and a rug. Andy installed a toilet and I painted the room blue and did lots of cleaning. After Dad and Shannie's visit we concluded that the bathroom needed a door, so that was installed Thanksgiving Day. See below for before and after photos. The trim is not painted and none of the drywall issues were resolved, but at least, as Dave said, you don't shudder when you walk in now.

Andy and I had Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel after getting the door installed on Thursday.

Friday Jenni and Dave and the girls showed up around 1:00 and we headed to the Opryland Hotel. Spent a while admiring the Christmas decorations and then went through the ICE exhibit. 1.5 million pounds of ice carved into all kinds of amazing things. We even went down a slide made of ice. The temperature was 15 degrees and they gave everyone parkas to wear. Pretty cool (get it - ha!).

Saturday Dave and Andy took down the beam that has been hanging loose in the kitchen - finally! Now no one has to be afraid of anything but spiders falling on them. Jenni and I got down to the serious business of cooking and the only thing we managed to ruin (we being me) was the iced tea, so that wasn't too bad. We cheated on the turkey and bought it from Honeybaked Ham, but we made everything else. Mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, Jenni's noodles from the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, corn pudding, sweet potatoes that we didn't actually eat, biscuits, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. And of course a can of cranberry sauce (? - I don't know if the blob kind is really sauce) for Dave.

We napped after dinner and went to the Station Inn on Saturday night. I think that was the first time the girls have seen bluegrass and I think they had fun. Sunday morning they were up and gone early, and I enjoyed my last day of vacation.

Last item: we decided not to buy the house at 945 Silverdene. What with it being next to the power station and all, we weren't sure how much we could get for it or if we would be able to make any money from it at all. We have decided to buy another house at 1024 Chicamauga (photos below) and are at this point absolutely committed to closing. So this is a sure thing. It is a bigger house and on a better street, so I have high hopes of it turning out to be profitable. It will be a big project for sure. We haven't decided yet when Andy will quit, but probably around the end of the year.

Last item for real: for those of you who don't already know . . . . my brother and Kelly got married!!! They sprung it on us in an email. But I think we were all prepared ahead of time. Kelly reports that the baby is up to over 3 lbs and is doing well. She will be a girl named Adria Rayne Van Ostrand. Very exciting news.

Love to all,
Becky