We have a winner!

Throughout this years BIA parade of homes at Olentangy Falls, we had a drawing set up where those going through the homes could enter to win the eight foot farm table we had on display along with the matching bench. Over the course of the parade, we got many compliments on the table and had over 800 entries.

Yesterday I drew the name of our winner, Linda Harrah of Westerville, Ohio. She was very excited about winning. Tonight we met her at the house and she took possession of her prize. Linda is now the proud owner of the beautiful farm table and matching bench that was on display at the parade.

Congratulations Linda!

Starliner Diner

Tonight Nick and I decided to try out Starliner Diner. He's from New Jersey; there are diners everywhere there. It's a lot different in Ohio. You can find one here and there, but they are rare. Starliner Diner is only about a 20 minute drive from our house, but after almost a decade, we'd never made the trip to have dinner there.

We'd both heard a lot about the place. Everyone raved about the food. Apparently they have won awards for their breakfast. What we were surprised about was the menu. Instead of 'normal' diner far, there was a Mexican/Cuban/Cajun flare to all the selections.

Nick and I are not overly fond of spicy foods, so it took us a while to decided on what to eat. He settled on a BBQ chicken sandwich, I went with a chicken burrito. Both ended up being very good, however, the salsa that was served with Nick's tortillas chips, and the chili sauce that came with my burrito, were a little too spicy for us. Thankfully, our server suggested I get the chili sauce on the side.

All in all, it was a decent dinner, although I'm not sure we will be going there for dinner again any time soon.

The Starliner Diner is located at 5240 Cemetery Road in Hilliard, Ohio. You can check out their menu on their website http://www.starlinerdiner.com/.

Purple Road

We've been having a lot of rain here lately. Honestly, I can't remember a day when we haven't had some rain. But a couple of nights ago, I looked out the window of my study and the road  outside of our house had a purple glow to it.

This was taken about eight o'clock at night, just before the sun was completely set. It didn't stick around long, but it was beautiful while it lasted.

Mud Hole or Parking Lot

If you've never been to on of the past parades, you may not know that they park the cars in fields. The only thing between you and the mud is the grass that naturally grows there.

It has rained almost every day since the BIA Parade of Homes started on June 11th, and this is what the workers parking lot looks like.

The space that is now mud is supposed to be used for parking as well, but fearing getting stuck, we are all trying to park on the perimeter and a strip that is slightly elevated and therefore drier than the rest. So far I've been lucky and not gotten stuck every time I've worked. I'm crossing my fingers that continues to be the case.

The BIA Parade of Homes runs until this Sunday, June 26th.

Daddy's Hands

Today is Father's Day. As kids, we give dad t-shirts saying 'world greatest dad', coffee mugs with '#1 dad' written on the side. By the time we are adults, it's usually a card.

Coming home today, I was listening to the song 'Daddy's Hands' on the radio. It's a country song that's been around for years. It's one of those songs that makes you think, remember, your childhood.

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.
And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.
You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind.
I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,
And patted my back, for something done right.
There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,
But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.
Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.
If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.
And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.
Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.
Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle
But I´ve come to understand.
There was always love .....
In Daddy´s hands.

This is the first Father's Day without my dad. I'm not really sure how I was supposed to feel today, but it has been emotional is a weird way. There were many 'father' songs played to day in honor of Father's Days. I guess this song stood out to me because it is talking about her father in the past tense, like he is no longer there, which I could relate to.

Social Security?

At the age of 34, I, thankfully, do not normally deal with the social security administration often. Recently, however, that has changed.

My father died in March, and I've been trying to help my mother navigate the many obstacles that come with the death of a spouse. Let me tell you, if you've never had to deal with it, be grateful. It is a maze that seems to have no end.

Social security has been one of those apparently never ending mazes. Today was just another in a long line of hoops that we have had to jump through.

They encourage people to use their website. That's not uncommon now a days and I've proficient in using most websites, so I did not foresee a problem.

A letter was sent about a month ago giving her a user name and temporary password to use. We went to the site listed, followed the instructions, and set up a new password for her. Easy, right? That's what I thought. However, today, was the first time we'd tried to go back into the system with the new password. First there was nowhere to actually 'log in'. You'd think that would be front and center, but after scanning the entire page, I couldn't find anywhere that said 'log in' or 'sign in'.

After about fifteen minutes of clicking on various things that looked promising, I was directed to a place to enter her user id and password. Wouldn't you know...it didn't work.

In the end, we decided to just call the local office and take care of the change by phone. So much for easy updates and changes via their website.

Old Friends and No Apples

Today I spent a few hours at the parade of homes. All went well, but it started to sprinkle so I decided to leave a little earlier than planned. As I neared my car in the parking lot, I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while. She was there to man a booth for her new job. We spent a few minutes catching up before she had to get going.

After that I decided to head over to Yutzy's farm market for some apples.

I love this place. They have homemade items like jelly's and jams along with fruit, breads, and candies. You could go hog wild in this place.

One of my favorite things is the lunch meat and cheese counter.

Every week they run a meat and cheese special. When you go to the grocery store here you normally pay anywhere from $4.99-$8.99 for meat. Their meat specials usually run about $2.99-$3.99, cheese $1.99-$2.99. And to sweeten the deal, it tends to last in the refrigerator two to three times as long. I love it!

The downside to this trip,however, was that they were out of apples. Hopefully, I will have better luck next time.

Realtor Day

Monday was Realtor Day at the Parade of Homes. The houses all open up early to allow the Realtors to come through before the parade opens up to the general public. It is one of my favorite parade days as the Realtors are looking to chat and network with those in the houses as much as we are with them.

One of the perks of Realtor Day is the treats. Every house seems to set out donuts, coffee, etc., for the Realtors to much on as they go through the houses. Our house had donuts, muffins, cookies, yogurt, coffee, juice, and water. A nice variety that many of the Realtors appreciated.

I had many compliments on the kitchen table from the Realtors. Many were very impressed with the quality, so hopefully we will get some leads from there.

Our table is in the Manor Homes house this year. It is house #9 on the parade.

Full Stop

My husband, Nick, came into the house from his shop and says, 'you're going to need to go to Grainger tomorrow'. First of all, this is NOT the first thing a wife wants to hear coming out of her husband's mouth. lol. Second, saying I need to go to Grainger means only one thing, something is broke.

As I'd suspected with his initial comment, something was in fact broke. The capacitors in his table saw needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, this means that all work that requires the table saw is at a full stop until the capacitors are replaced.

So off I went to Grainger today.

I think that sometimes they look for the most off the wall places to put these stores. They have two in central Ohio, and both are tucked back in industrial parks. I get it. I really do. They are an industrial supply company. But that doesn't make them any easier to find.

Needless to say, I did find the store I was looking for and they had the two capacitors I was needing.

 Hopefully all will go well tonight when Nick puts the new additions back on the table saw motor.

Little Red Ants and Strawberries

We went out this morning to pick some strawberries from the plants we have on our property, but when we started to remove them and look at the individual berries many of them had small holes. After farther inspection, we noticed that from some of these little holes crawled little red ants.

Now when I say 'little red ants' I am meaning these tiny little things that are no bigger than the nail on my pinkie finger. I haven't noticed them on any of our other garden plants, so I'm thinking they are just partial to my strawberries.

Thankfully, we were able to save a few from their clutches. Home grown strawberries taste so much better than those from the store. Yum! :)

Opening Day...

at the 2011 BIA Parade of Homes.

We have a kitchen table set up there this year and I wanted to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. I knew from the parade two years ago that things are rarely the same way you left them when you dropped everything off four days prior.

Our display in the garage had been moved, but thankfully everything was still in the same basic arrangement as I had left it.

Inside the table looked great! There were people touching the top, which is exactly what I wanted. Hopefully there will be a good crowd tomorrow and I will be able to show a lot more people what we can do for them.

New Blog Design

Hopefully you have noticed that I have revamped the blog, but changing the visual layout is only the first step. For several reasons, I've decided to make this blog about more than just woodworking. I am a woodworker's wife, but my life isn't as simple what happens in our shop and I've decided to start sharing a more comprehensive view of things. This blog will be about my life as a woodworker's wife. That includes everything that makes up my life in general, so who knows what I'll be talking about in the future.