Chillin' Sam

Sam is loving the gorgeous day!!!!  Just a chillin'!

Apartment Therapy

I've taken to reading lots on minimalism.  Not so much the idea of having only 100 things but the idea of enough is enough!  I can't tell you how many things I've returned in the last few months.  I ask myself "Do I really NEED this?"  While reading great blogs on minimalism I happened upon a neat website Apartment Therapy.  They have something called a Small Cool Contest.  Click here to see some of the fun entries for 2012!

The shot above is from this article.  LOVE the space.  I could so live in an area that size.  If there were cool studio condos available here I'd rent or buy one in a heartbeat.  I really don't need all 1350 sf of my newest condo :)

Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland

Heavy wet wonderful!  Photos pulled from QC Times as mine were awful :)

Follow up to Joplin Tornado

Many of you know that last May when Joplin had their destructive tornado that I went in search of my father.  I didn't know that that was where he lived.  We had been estranged for some time.  We knew before we left that his home was in the direct middle of the tornado's path.  Well...I finally got to see Dad.  He moved to Wichita Kansas and bought a home there.  Still tornado alley mind you!  I drove down to visit  last September a few days before I moved.  What a wonderful, healing trip for me.  Below are a couple of photos taken there.  One with Dad and his dog and one with me, Dad and his wife.  Enjoy!

Whew! Long time no see!!! My new home!

I have been very, very absent!  My last posting was when I listed my condo for sale in June.  It sold in under 2 weeks and I moved in Sept to a one story condo with underground, heated parking.  LOVE it!  No more stairs...oh yes...an elevator if I'm too lazy to walk up one flight of stairs from the parking garage to my unit :) Here are a couple of shots...btw...I finally got my brown accent wall :)  Loving the open floor plan!

My Condo is Up for Sale!

I LOVE my current condo but I'm tired of the stairs.  Keep your fingers crossed that it sells quickly so I can move into the one floor condo I've made an offer on!!!  Photos of the new one tomorrow :)

Joplin Tornado Follow-up

On Wednesday, May 25th we stopped at the post office and left a note for Dad that we had been in town searching for him.  Then we found that we could park and walk into the decimated area to find Dad's house.  We walked miles!!!!  Found his home.  His home still had 2 walls standing whereas next door had only a part of one wall standing.  Most homes were just razed to the ground...gone.

We spoke with Dad's next door neighbor and learned that he had just finished digging a crawl space 2 weeks before beneath his home.  Dad and his wife weren't in it but a few minutes before the tornado hit.  A stranger a couple of streets over took Dad and Lou in for the night and then drove them to one of their relatives homes in Kansas to stay.  Two complete strangers offering up such amazing kindness.  From there Lou's daughter came and picked them up.  I don't think that they'll be returning to Joplin.  They made it out with only the clothes that they had on and only a few dollars.  Again...they are so lucky to be alive!!!  The folks in Joplin and here at home that helped us try to track Dad were absolutely God sent!!  I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and also for the chance to have a renewed relationship with an estranged father!

The 1st photo below is from the Jasper County Assessors office-Dad's home BEFORE the tornado.  The following are his home AFTER and additional shots of his neighborhood.  You can click on them to make them larger :)

I read just today that only a handful of people are still unaccounted for.  I pray that they turn up alive somewhere!