A picture is worth a thousand words!

FINALLY!!! A day without rain means the concrete can be poured!  The crew has a short window to get the mix down but they are determined to get this project done.  I cannot wait to see it for myself. Here are the pictures that Old Mountain has been sending me throughout the day!

While the rain falls down

This week there has been little progress on the driveway.  It is hurricane season and even though we are hours away from the ocean, the storms that taunt the coast have found their way into our atmosphere.  We have been living in a grey mist for days with no sunshine and lots and lots of falling water.

Pair that with a week home from work while office space is moved from one floor to another, I decided today I would multitask - handle work, bake for my daughter's girl scout troop and compose a blog entry.

A few years ago, I bought a whoopie pie pan from the William Sonoma outlet.  It was very inexpensive and I thought I would make some of these treats sooner rather than later.  So here we are, much later, and I am making gluten free whoopie pies.  Thanks to Pintrest, there is no shortage of ideas.  I went with a recipe from the blog, gluten free canteen, where the author converts every kind of recipe to a gluten free version.  This particular recipe uses a box mix as its base, so it was super easy to pull together.

The hardest part was getting the batter/dough into the pans; tapping the pans so that the batter flattened into the pan; and then putting them together.  A tad messy but something I hope the kiddos, especially one sweet girl who has been denied so many joys of being a kid due to celiac disease.

Pave this way

Unlike many people who live on our road, we are fortunate to have not one but two driveways or at least a second space to put some vehicles.  One side of our yard is a pea pebble pad that fits two cars nicely.  The other is a true drive way but it has seen better days.  Quite a while back, I had found some pictures of what I wanted.  After walking the neighborhood to see what others had in the style of a drive way, we knew that we had a winner.

Ribbon driveways, sometimes called Hollywood driveways or track driveways, usually consist of two parallel tracks paved with a hard material and separated by an unpaved area. There are many homes around us that have this style with the "ribbon" area being a grassy strip.  Not wanting to keep up with grass, we have selected brick pavers in a herringbone pattern to place in the center.

Living in the official historic district, we did have to go before the historical review board to get our plans approved.  That was in January 2015.  Not fault of our contractor or of our own, we haven't had it done yet.  It was freezing, then it was extremely wet, then this new Braves stadium is being built in our community, which is bogarting all the day labor.  Now that summer is winding down and rush corporate jobs are closing up for our contractor, we were able to do a site walk today and finalize the work that should start later this week.  Not just a drive way but lots of drainage, concrete and pavers will be installed.  This isn't a rush job by any means but rather a labor of love.  As the old driveway continues to wash away, gems of old brick are starting to surface and it is going to be a really cool project to watch come to life.  I can't wait.

Brick+Mortar

The process has begun in building a new driveway for the house.  Praise the Lord! Our contractors have uncovered some pretty awesome old bricks as they dig out the old, put in drainage and get ready to lay the new.

Return from the darkness

Hello, blog world....it's been awhile.  
A very long while.
I think I have been inspired to start writing again!

I am going to revamp my blog.  This journey started in 2010, and as we settled into our dream home, there were projects to handle more frequently.   Five years later, we are into a groove.  However, we have some more fun renovations on the horizon.  Plus, after being inspired by a few friends who blog, I think I will use this as a creative outlet.

You see, I'm not just a mom who works full-time and doesn't know how to say no to volunteer activities; I also started working on my Masters Degree online.  This fall will be my last semester of coursework, and then in the spring of 2016, I will take my capstone course and finally graduate.

So my blog will be a distraction for my mind when it gets cluttered with talk of work and education theory.  Stay tuned...I think this might be fun!

Home, sweet home - where we are still living the dream!