Update on the pool at Casa Kibler....

I have not been the best blogger of late.  

Sporadic posts.  

No pics of wonderful new uses for burlap fabric or feed sacks.  

Spring cleaning...? I did it - was i the diligent blogger and post pics and provide....nope.  I blog hopped and read some great ones though!

I've been pool planning...researching for the landscape...basically just day dreaming over pictures like this...

and this...

Because our house is a creamy beige with a rust roof, it goes great with burnt red and turquoise accent colors...so i'm envisioning lots of color filled pots around the pool.  


We picked out our pavers for the deck...

and debated over tile color fo the water's edge...(we went with the bottom right choice...it's much bluer than what it appears here though)
 

So, while we've been doing that - this is what was going on in our backyard...upper left corner to bottom right corner is progress during week 2 and week 3.  The first week after signing the contract was permit pulling progress - and just prepping the yard.  So 3 weeks in and we're tiling, plumbing, and running electric this week!  We are super excited around here!

Sailing...take me away....to where I'm going

I have been awake for hours already this morning.   Whatever sleep I did end up getting over the course of the night was not restful.  I kept falling asleep and falling back into this stupid dream revolving around a trip to the beach, in a hotel crammed with spring breakers, a bus that was really one big bathroom (think gym locker room and you'll get the idea) attached to this hotel and county prisoners cleaning it.  

This is what my brain does when it's got a lot to process.

And when i read what i just typed above I realize that i made it sound like we're going through turmoil over here.  

No,  we just have a lot going on here at casa Kibler and I have been wanting to get to a quiet place, organize thoughts, pray, write, and with 2 boys starting spring break, that wasn't happening.  So my brain took over during my sleep.  At least it was entertaining - i just wonder what the prisoners scrubbing the floor of the bus bathroom relates to in my real life.


Since I was awake, I thought I'd capitalize on the quiet - and when i grabbed my laptop i found it was on a blog i must have clicked through to and then got sidetracked yesterday, because i didn't read it until this morning.  But oh lordy.  It was appropriate.


It was relating sailing to your relationship with God.  


I don't sail but she explained it so simply that I got it.


She said, when the wind is in front of you (you're facing the situation) you have all of your sails trimmed, keeping from healing over - she said to think of it as being braced for what's ahead, facing it head on so to speak, that maneuver is called a "tack".  Not "attack" but a "tack"  But i thought how similar the words in meaning were here.  

Then, she described a 'jibe', where the wind is behind you - she likened it to turning your back on the situation, and you have to let loose of your sails in order to catch the wind from behind.  This letting go is called a 'broad reach'.  

Sometimes we have to let go in order to let God do his thing.  A broad reach is a broad stretch for me.  I'm not good at that. I like control. I don't like letting go.  That's definitely not in my comfort zone.  I'm trying though. 


How do you let go?

Total Destruction With Some Inspiration Thrown In

I tend to think of home projects in stages.  There's the planning/dreaming stage - where you gather all of your inspiration pictures together and start to plan it out.  Then there's the de-construction stage where the notsogreat parts are destroyed so that you can build said dream.  

This is where we are.  Ground zero for the pool.

Heavy machinery sitting in yard, pavers pulled up and stacked to the side, random yard furniture shoved to the side...and a nerf machine gun.  Because i might have to get serious with some of the men here.  It's a justincase item.  Oh and I see my Potter Barn bath mat under the nerf gun.  At least it's stylin.

See this?  I have some plans for this old thing.

We're putting in an outdoor shower that is solar powered for warm water...and i'm using this old gate for the shower door.  I'm thinking a washed out turquoise color maybe...i love this...i almost bought that bell yesterday.

Maybe less english garden, more coastal looking...with some dune grass planted alongside.

 Here's to dreams that come true...happy Sunday!

Weekend Wrap Up.

We had a wonderful weekend, time spent at our favorite nursery of all time....family owned....they serve breakfast stuff and lunch stuff at a snack stand so we kind of make it a 'date'...

walking around with our coffee, taking in all the colors.  I can't describe how it makes me feel - except that i think maybe it's kind of like when you were small and got a brand new box of crayons....staring at fresh colors and blank paper....yeah.  That's it.

These pots are tall. Or I'm short.  That red one reached my shoulder.  I wanted to carry one of those turquoise pots home but i had to choose - groceries for the month, or one beautiful pot.  Darn those children that want food like 3 times day.  

Here's a few shots from last weekend too - camping with my son and a some other family friends at a wonderful place called "Wallaby Ranch".  It's a hang gliding ranch where you can rent a weekend cabin - in the smallest, cutest cabins ever - and learn to hang glide.  

My friend Lori has over 400 hours logged hang gliding.  Yea, I'm in awe.  I will never do that. ever.  Especially when this dude landed and then said "i thought i was going to be up there forever..."  yea..again...no.

I instead focused on all the pretty scenery. Florida has some beautiful, unspoiled land.

    And look at these sweet cottages you can rent....

and many swings to unwind on....

 We didn't rent cabins, we "tented" it - that's our line of tents you see in the background up there.  And they called us to dinner by ringing the bell in this bell tower.  Very cool.

Sarah comes home on Spring Break this week and the boys come home from their dad's tomorrow and life gets very full, very quick, and i love every minute of it.  

They start ripping the oaks out of the back yard tomorrow for the pool and i'm a little saddened by it.  It's hard for me to justify killing something older than me for my own selfish wants.

We're having neighbors over for wings and sliders and games Friday night - so i'm looking forward to that.


What's everyone else up to?  Anyone trying any new recipes or diving into any new projects? 
 

Inspired by Heather Bullard...sigh

One day I will own chickens.  And they will run free, and when they decide to nap, i'll have a place for them much like this...

And i will make sure that they have a cute little house to call home....

Once again, I am back to daydreaming about farm life, selling jam on the side of the road and owning a passel of chickens.  Except i don't think that's the right word - but the chickens won't care what word i use.

I'll give them great names like HB did - Butter, Ruby, Lola and i will adore them. 

In the meantime, I will focus my energy on creating country in my city life by making my yard beautiful for entertaining...and i will set up tables like this....

 

and have beautiful hand towels like this....

 

This woman is in the perfect job - her talent is amazing.  I heart her.  

Linking to the Picket Fence's Inspiration Fridays...

Rome wasn't built in a day, ya know.

That's my mother's voice.  I think I hear her say that to me, oh, at least once a week.  It's my fault really.  We get on the phone to catch up and she asks what we're up to with the house stuff and I give her the running list, and that's always what she says back.  And it's aggravating.  But, she's right.  Which is even more aggravating.  You know what they say, if it's not one thing, it's your mother.


Anyway.


The shower re-caulk job is done and I seriously JUST finished re-grouting the shower floor.  So i can mark that off my list - and i promise to take some pics soon of that room.  But I've got yet another HUGE project that started this week.  The good news is that we're not doing it ourselves. 

Wanna see what we've started?...It's pretty cool....literally.

 This is our big gift to the kids and ourselves.  And i think i'm in love.  This is pool mock up our builder provided that we approved....only to change it later.  Small changes though - nothing big - this is the general idea.


Now i'm spending my nights trying to decide what plants to plant around it.  And while the kids are excited about having a pool - i'm actually more excited about landscaping it - is that weird?

While V watched hockey last night, I spent my night with this cute man...

At least in the virtual world. Kind of.  I spent hours going thru his blog and his website

He is one talented southern boy.  A gardener by trade who started doing events, and ohmyword can he cook - i have copied down several recipes that just remind me of my grandmother.  

You can get lost in all of his gorgeous pictures.

 On another note...and one more project - the beadboard went up in the guest bath and the doors were trimmed out as well -and both have been painted.  I would show you a picture of THAT too but the man painted everything in his path and i need to go back and re-paint the wall where they meet.