Where has October gone??

Mostly to football band, a trip to Vegas for all girls weekend (I will post that on the AGW blog...eventually). Until then I'll lead this with the fact I hate that the band competitions have been at night (this is the first as in the original first was cancelled die yo threats of weather and number two will be 8:30pm again)


There's Angie - 1st purple from the left - 20 yard line. Her hair is so dark!!





In the middle of the screen! G is in the front purple :)


Middle chick!


Out of focus, middle chick still!


Do you see her? Last girl in the front.


Taking the lead over the other purple chick!


Middle often screen...





Strike a pose!
It was fun watching the show!

The little house is open for business!

High season May - September		Low season October - April
week	day	week	day
$              641	$        115	$        550	$          98

Until I get the website and calendar set up, call me or message me for availability.

As this is a friends and fmaily rental you can opt to skip having the house cleaned by a cleaning company prior to your arrival knowing the house would have been cleaned by the prior occupant only.  knowing there could be dust and even a dead bug or two.  We have a quarterly bug service, so dead is all we have been finding when we go to town.  If you choose this option subtract $100 from the prices above.  All occupants will be requested to do the dishes and wash the sheets and put them back on the beds prior to leaving.

We also provide a number of paper products and would appreciate you replace what you use.

So - on to the house introduction!  Meet the Tiny House in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
It is 1166 sq foot and itching to have someone rent it and go play at the beaches or visit with Sally (she's right behind us!) 

The house layout.

The Living Room:

The living room features a queen size pull out sleeper sofa, two arm chairs and a love seat for a lot of seating options.  We have a 50" smart TV with cable and premium channel options of Starz and HBO.  The smart TV is connected to the internet, so you can stream your choice of on line services. There are also a few games available as well.

The Kitchen and Dining Room:

  straws, knives, dish towels and place mats.

Misc kitchen tools and silverware all to the left of the sink

 Dish drainer and a number of cleaning supplies under the sink.

Dishwasher for your convenience.  Just in case you can't reach the top items, a folding step stool is to the right of the dishwasher (for now)

 Open storage for your food as well as a variety of sizes of bowls

 Food storage, plastic insulated travel cups, wine glasses, plates, regular glasses and a variety of size mugs for your use as well as paper towels (the number will dwindle as these are left over form construction and painting!)

 The peninsula has a nice sized drawer under the microwave nook (microwave to be provided soon!) with a number of casserole dishes

Dishwasher soap is currently being stored above the pull out cookie sheet and splatter guard pull out.

  to the right of the stove, you will find utensils, pots, pans, strainers as well as stainless bowls with lids.

 A pull out waste basket with garbage bags stored in the back.

 The kitchen is set up with a table that expands to seat up to 8

The legs pull out to reveal a leaf stored inside the table.

Extra chairs are in the back left bedroom (in the coral room) closet as well as a high chair in the bunk room closet.

The Bathrooms:

Each of the bathrooms feature wall mounted sinks, original tile and toilets (meaning they are short!)  They both also have wall mounted mirrored medicine cabinets original to the 1960s house. Each has a good sized storage closet behind their doors that will contain all the bath towels, hand towels and washcloths as well as a number of toothbrush/toothpaste sized containers for, well, toothbrushes and toothpaste and/or makeup or whatever you would like to use them for.  If you store toothpaste, please remember to pop them into the dishwasher on your way out so they are clean for the next guest!

The Main Bath;

an oversize shower head with a wand feature.

Bedrooms:

The coral bedroom and the bunk room both feature towel hooks and a small mirror mounted behind their doors to ease the need to use the bathrooms for getting ready in the mornings. 

Each of the bedrooms closes contain extra sheets, extra blankets, suitcase stands and beach towels for your use while you are here.  Two of the rooms have rolling dirty clothes hampers and soon there will be a few clothes baskets for your use as well.

The Bunk Room:

yeah, I know, this closet is really a work in progress - the dresser needs to be painted a nice white to fit better in the room (soon, soon!)

The Coral Room:

The Master Bedroom:

The Master Bath (aka the half bath):

The Laundry Room:

would you believe I forgot to get pictures of the laundry room as we were dashing out of the house?  I know, shocking, right?  Sigh.  AND Mom and dad painted it so nicely over the weekend too.  Goodness!!  Let's just say it's a cozy little laundry room with a full size washer (with auto dispensing softener - my favorite feature) and full size brand new dryer (long story there!).  The washer still sports its instructions in the inside of the lid (complaint I heard from a frequent vacation renter friend of mine!)  There are a few laundry tabs and some softener in there as well - again - replace what you use if you would please :)

In addition to the LOVELY washer and dryer there is an AWESOME "wonder wheel" cart for your use at the beach as well as a number of beach toys, a few camp chairs, a beach umbrella and a sand screw (a must for an umbrella for sure!)

The Back Yard:

There is a nice cloths line to hang towels and bathing suits from.

And remember those camp chairs?  You can sit in the shade of the old oak tree and watch the squirrels play over your head :)

Costume Birthday Parties

Angela was invited to an Alice in Wonderland themed party last weekend her character was the white witch.

Of course we (she) put off the costume hunt until the last minute. We scoured three Goodwill stores. The good news is there was an "OK" option at the first store we could fall back on, the BEST news is we found her dress at the last stop (yeah, I know we quit looking but honestly there are only three Goodwills in this town)

So here she is, the White Queen!


The dress has a lace up back and we whip stitched on 5 yards of tulle to make it a bit fuller/queen like.


Ah, my baby grew up when I wasn't looking!!!

50 things to be grateful for at 50 years old

My card from work said “Make a list of 50 things you are thankful for”...

So here goes:

I’m thankful for:

1.       Butch - that although he lacks in planning, he's here and indulges my whims when it comes to the tiny house (buying, fixing, decorating)

2.       Elizabeth - for being a great college student

3.       Angela - for being my favorite child (we joked about this over the weekend - don't worry, Liz was there too)

4.       My Mom – for always being my sounding board

5.       My Dad – for always jumping in on silly projects without a second question or thought!

6.       My MIL – for being a great MIL and now neighbor to the tiny house

7.       My sister – for inviting me to go on a trip half way around the world with her – I’m so excited to do this with her!

8.       My Brother David – for calling and checking up on the folks with me (yes, even if you do spin me up on the subject – ha!)

9.       My Brother Robert – although we don’t talk often, I’m grateful he will be coming out to spend some time with Dad to give Mom a break to go to the AGW with the rest of us!

10.   My relatives – who humor me with AGW and are always willing to drop everything and come join when they are able!

11.   Janet, Gail and Brittney for being my scrapping buddies!

12.   My job – that allows me to do the things I would like with travel, playing and the tiny house.

13.   The tiny house – believe it or not, it has been a fun treat to work on it – although it took long than I ever anticipated, I know it’s there and available to use to have fun, bring friends down and enjoy some time in the sunshine state!

14.   Travel, the places I have seen and the fact that I stretched my wings when I was younger and struck out on a trip to Australia

15.   Begin able to dive the Great Barrier Reef – what an experience!

16.   My continued love of travel and ability to do so… next up India!!

17.   My back yard.  I know that sounds simple, but really it is a little slice of heaven out there sitting watching the world go by…

18.   My new car – it’s a nice new member of the family for sure!

19.   My old trustworthy car “Bertha” – she is going strong even though college life is hard on her (more dings!)

20.   The knowledge to get a stick shift car to train my girls on – as they want to travel the world and learning a stick shift is paramount to their life goals to stretch their wings when the time comes

21.   My girls’ ability to LEARN to drive a stick shift and not complain too awfully much

22.   The opportunity that I have had to live in multiple areas – Las Vegas for the diversity and the things I got to learn while there

23.   The opportunity to work with Travel Exchange and get some wonderfully inexpensive trips out of the bargain (to include my honeymoon flights)

24.   The opportunity to travel to Korea to see Butch while he was stationed there (twice)

25.   The opportunity to live in Italy

26.   Being able to see Oktoberfest in person (twice!)

27.   Being able to see the tulips in bloom at the Keukenhof gardens, the outer areas of the Netherlands, the cheese factories, all sorts of tourist stuff in that part of the world

28.   Being able to travel to Egypt to see the Valley of the Kings in person, so dive in the Red Sea, to see parts of Egypt when things were relatively ‘calm’ in that area

29.   Having a wonderful daycare “mom”  who I’m still in touch with today – who took my baby in like she was hers

30.   To live in Utah for those years, even though I don’t like the snow, it was worth it to be close to family

31.   To have moved to Georgia and have Butch get the jobs he has had since moving here – they have been a wonderful financial support and made our lifestyle possible

32.   The house we live in currently, even though with kids moving out it’s starting to seem bigger and bigger

33.   The fact we have room to have Liz and her friends from colleges away from here meet “in the middle” and crash at our house – and they WANT to!

34.   Work friends.  I have found I have more than I thought I did over the last few months and it’s a nice feeling

35.   My job again – in that I have enough leave to do what I want without too much outward planning and a last minute trip to Guam only requires a phone call and a little juggle of not taking leave during xx week to make it happen without strapping me for leave

36.   The fact that I will have the opportunity to GO to Guam as I have wanted to go since Damian and Tandy got there!

37.   Angela’s impending “Sr.” trip next year – it has been nice to dream up places to go and things to see on our trip to come

38.   that I switched to the job I have currently

39.   that the new coworkers are very personable and friendly and welcoming

40.   for my free sandwich from Firehouse subs today – lunch was a whopping $3.00

41.   that Butch is getting treatment today instead of being buried from his accident during diving last week

42.   that medicine has come as far as it has

43.   For massages every two weeks and insurance to pay all but $20 of it – and I’m so looking forward to it this week!

44.   For the fact my kids are huggy, lovey girls even though they are older now

45.   For my hot tub in the winter

46.   For my swimming pool in the summer

47.   Friends who can relate to me and my daily life at work and at home

48.   Long distance friends who make me smile when I hear from them via email and Facebook – those that I can just pick up where we left off and be good no matter the amount of time in-between

49.   Wow – suck again!!!  I should be 25 as that is where I stopped the first time! So I guess I’ll be thankful that folks still look shocked when I TELL them I’m 50 today!

50.   The fact I MADE it to 50 – the things I have done the risks I have taken in my life… it’s amazing I’m still alive at this point in time!