Wow! Where Has The Time Gone?

I did not mean for this much time to go between posts, but time has surely gotten away from us. We have just been very busy with the never ending going through stuff, deciding what we will keep and moving it up to the country house. We finally got Ken's mustering out pay from the fire department and today the kennel for the dogs was started. Some of the pictures below show the dirt work being done for the pad. Tomorrow or Thursday they will be framing the building and sometime after that pouring the foundation. Of course all of that could change depending on how much they get done each day. It is way to hot here in Texas to be working outside without taking lots of breaks.

I was able to get the bedroom furniture for the guest bedroom. I got the bed and lamps from my favorite salesperson, John Wier at the RoomStore in Spring, Tx. The Sealy Queen size mattress and box springs came from Bi-Right Furniture (they were running a great sale) and the end tables came from Southwest Surplus. I think the room is turning out great. I do have a new ceiling fan that better matches the bed but it is not up yet. The sitting room/den is almost done, I bought two Curio Cabinets and two chairs from John and a small desk, chair and book cases from Office Depot. We also have a beautiful new ceiling fan for that room also. I can't wait until it is set up and I can post photos of the room. Keeping our fingers crossed, we might actually be in the house full time the beginning of September and if we are even luckier maybe mid August.

Starting to Feel Like Home

Today Gallery Furniture (Houston, Tx) delivered the furniture I bought on the 4th of July to the new house in Willis, Tx.. The guys that delivered my furniture were so great, they took great care bring in the furniture and placed it exactly where I wanted it. I could not have asked for better service, from my salesman, "Cowboy", to the lady that took my money to the guys that delivered the furniture. We still need a few more pieces and I will certainly being going back to Gallery and "Cowboy" to buy them in the next 2 weeks. I know, I know, I sound like a commerical for Gallery Furniture and no they did not pay me to say this, I am just so pleased with the service I have gotten from both Gallery Furniture and The Roomstore. Below are three photos of the new furniture from 3 diferent angles. Are we camera happy or what!!! LOL

Happy 4th of July

Today, I went out to Hempstead (Texas) where our herding club holds it's meeting, mostly on holidays. :-) We are the Houston Area Herding Association also know as the HAHAs and we hold herding trials in October and March. Today we had a get together starting about 8:30 am and we finished up somewhere around noon. We invite people out who are interested in seeing if their dog who was bred for herding has the instinct to herd. A lot of the people who come out do go on and and train with Joy (President of our Club and a AKC Herding Judge) and then show for either an HT (Herding Tested) title or PT (pre trial tested) title. Of course there are more advanced titles to get and some people do get bit with the herding bug and go on to the more advanced titles, but it all about the joy the dog has doing what it was bred to do and the team work/love/respect between dog and owner. More information about herding and herding trials can be found on the AKC website. Below are some photos I took of some dogs doing herding instinct tests and a couple shots of more advanced dogs being trained for upcoming trials. Also there are photos of our lunch and our "Chinese Christmas In July". VBG FYI, our website is www.houstonareaherdingassociation.com Info on our October trials will be up sometime towards the end of August.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. God Bless our Military, those in harms way now and those who are now retired, especially my father, Chief Master Sergeant John C Burgess Jr (retired) who proudly served 30 years in the United States Air Force. Love ya Dad!

Just a short note

It has been a busy two days at the new house. I guess I have been what you would call nesting. :-) I saw my first doe as she walked through my yard about 8 feet from my dining room windows. I also saw a blue bird, wood pecker and a falcon. I am pretty sure it was a falcon and not a hawk. Wish I could have taken photos of them through the windows, but they just did not come out.

Here is the corner shelf with some of our collectible I added lamps and a puzzle picture of a GSD puppy that my mom did to one of the bedrooms.

Here is a blast from the past, metal drinking glasses and pitcher that I found in an antique store

Magic (BISS Am/Can/Intl CH Magical Memories v Riata Edan) at the front door

My husband bought me this shepherd with a light. I need to get one facing in the opposite direction now.

Well, they are not the rocking chairs that I wanted, but these chairs are comfortable for sitting on the front porch. The rocking chairs will come later.

This is the dining room with the beautiful windows looking out to our woods. I put up my danish blue german shepherd plates and I think they look great.

I put these drawings of my dogs that artist Mike McCartney did up in the entry way of the house. I am having another dog done this month when he comes to the Reliant Dog Shows here in Houston in about 2 weeks.

I'm on VACATION!!!!

Today starts my vacation, I am off for a whole month. Yahooooooooo!!!!! It is going to be a busy month with going through our belongings, packing some and throwing others away. It is amazing what Ken and I have accumlated in 23 years of marriage. I all ready have 10 huge plastic containers filled with things we are taking, books, fire department collectibles, german shepherd dog collectibles, etc, etc. I still have so much to go through that I wonder if I will ever get done. :-) Well, it's 7 am Houston time and sitting here typing on my blog is not getting stuff packed in the van and off to the new house. So everyone have a great day, I know I will!

Ken, I'm spending your money!!!

I started buying beds and things for the new house this past weekend. I started on Friday buying 1 queen size mattress along with two full mattress. I got a geat price on the mattresses (Sertas) and will be going back to that store in a couple weeks to buy a queen size mattress for the third bedroom. On Saturday Ken, his buddy Gary and I went to the Room Store. I bought 3 beautiful beds to go along with the mattresses. I also bought a stand for the TV, a corner shelf and a baker's rack. They had the TV stand there at the store, but Ken and Gary had to go to the warehouse to pick up the corner shelf and beds and then take them out to the house. It was an all day affair. I did not realize that spending Ken's money would be so tiring. :-) The baker's rack will be here in another week or so, but they are sending it to the store so we won't have to go back to the warehouse for it. I had a great sales person, so if you are looking for furniture (and you live in Houston) go to the Room Store in the Woodlands (not Rooms to Go) and ask for John. I still need to get the living room furniture and will be looking for that this weekend when they have all the 4th of July sales. Sunday my brother and his wife came to see the house for the first time. They live about 2 hours away, also in the country. I guess in our "old age" we just enjoy the slower country pace. :-) Ken and I gave them the tour and then put them to work. Hey, what else are relatives for? VBG Ken and Jimmy got the beds put together and Kathy and I made them up. Kathy and I made more than a few trips out to my van unloading bedding, pillows and two end tables. Ken and Jimmy also set up the TV stand, TV and the corner shelves. There is no way we could have gotten all that stuff done with just the two of us, so Thank you Jimmy and Kathy!!! By the way don't you want to come back out this weekend??? ;-) After we finished at the house, we took them over to Olive Garden and treated them to a great lunch. It really is a shame that Mom and Dad were not down for the weekend. Mom loves Olive Garden and so we thought about her with every mouthwatering bite we took! I know, I know, I am evil. Below, I have posted a few pictures of what we did on Sunday. Today I am back at work until the 30th and then I am on Vacation for a solid month. I cannot wait until Wednesday, I will be spending a lot of time packing and moving boxes to the new house. As I have said in previous posts, I can't wait unitl we are living there full time.


The new queen size bed with the new end tables. I still need to get two lamps for the tables and a mid size chest of drawers for clothes.

These are the two full size beds. I still need six pillows (4 for each bed) along with two end tables (I am not that fond of "nightstands"), and lamps.

This is Jimmy and his wife Kathy in the family room. Notice who has the drill. :-)

My husband Ken setting up the corner shelves.

Ken and Jimmy setting up the brand new flat screen TV

What a Weekend!

I went out to the new house this past weekend and watched the new front door being put in. While I was out there, I got a call from my friend Ann in Michigan. Her 10 month old gsd puppy finished his Championship with all majors. You can take a look at this beautiful boy here: http://www.edangsd.com/Kobe.html That is 71 champions she has bred! You can see more of her beautiful dogs at: http://www.edangsd.com/ Now back to the house. :-) We got our washer/dryer set up on Sunday and we also got the dining room furniture set up. Now we have a place to eat and sit while we are out there working. This coming Saturday I am hoping to get the windows cleaned, the place mopped and dusted, as my brother, his wife and my 4 year old nephew are coming over to see the place on Sunday. Except for the dining room set the house is empty as we are going to buy a new living room set and bedroom furniture in the next two weeks. I just can't wait until we can get moved over to the house full time.

Front of the house with the new front door.

New tile floor in the sitting/den room. Got to change the wall plugs

Another photo of the completed garage/workshop

One of the black squirrels.