The Husband is Home

Today has been stressful.

I slept late this morning. My cell phone rang at 9:30 am. It was the funeral home telling me The Husband's cremains were ready for pickup, as well as copies of his death certificate.

I brought everthing home and took the items upstairs to our office. I placed The Husband on a bookcase. I worked all afternoon reviewing various accounts/bills. This work is tedious, time consuming and emotionally draining. 

I had plans to meet up with good friends at a local restaurant. The time we spent together, the conversations about The Husband we had and the stories/photos we shared were just what I needed today, or so I thought.

I showed them the following picture of The Husband, which is the epitome of his love of the porch. The photo was taken several years ago. Notice the iPod in the Bose speaker dock, which means we were listening to his eclectic music catalog (4,000 songs). Also notice the cocktail glass next to the iPod. And, who could miss his head thrown back and his big laugh as he was conversing with our neighbors?

I returned home from being with our friends tonight and decided The Husband and I would have a cocktail on the porch, with music. See the iPod in the Bose speaker dock, the cocktail glass with Johnny Walker Red and water, as well as the box containing The Husband?

I sat there for a few moments, just the two of us with his favorite music and his favorite drink.

I started bawling.

I then asked the next door and across the street neighbors to join us, which they happily did. We laughed and reminisced about our numerous, informal porch parties over the years. The Powell house motto was, after all, "If we are on our porch, COME ON OVER!"

I'm thankful every day that I was lucky enough to be the friend of (and the wife of) The Husband.  

I am also thankful every day for all our friends and family that have helped both of us on this journey.

Third Annual Holiday Open House

The Husband and I hosted our holiday open house yesterday. We invite family, friends and neighbors to have a bite to eat, a glass of holiday spirits and an opportunity to paint ornaments for our porch tree.

The salt dough ornaments were ready to be painted and bedazzled.

I didn't get a photo of the food table, but it was loaded with goodies. :-)

The house was full of people, some more formally dressed than others.

One of our neighbors showed up in a tux, but I failed to get a photo. Notice a trend here?

We had several serious artists at work.

More artists.

Lots of catching up with friends occurred.

See the tree through the front window?

And there was a bit of silliness also. Our friend models TU and OU earrings.

Here's a close up of one of the ornaments. People take their painting very seriously around here.

And when the party ends, we have a lovely tree full of ornaments from our friends, family and neighbors.

We always have a lot of fun hosting this party. 

Does your family have a tradition of hosting a holiday party? If yes, what do you do?

New Neighbors!

How do you meet and greet new neighbors?

I typically do some variation of the following:

The attached paper says:

Welcome to Newport Avenue

Decorating a new home is exciting.

So is meeting new neighbors.

When we are sitting on our front porch,

it is an open invitation to come over and visit with us.

Welcome! 

Cindy & Steve

A cordial greeting goes a long way toward breaking the ice and assimilating new folks into our neighborhood. 

It also serves as a great opportunity to get some of our most pressing "Gladys Kravitz" questions answered quickly! 

I'm Plotting A Dognapping!

Meet Chance, our neighbor's Border Terrier puppy. His momma, Molly, gave birth to him 4 1/2 weeks ago.

I've threatened to steal him. I confess.

Our Front Porch

This is our front porch.

A former co-worker, who was in town for a conference Friday, stopped by to see me in the afternoon. We sat on the porch and visited over iced tea.

Our neighbors know if we are on the porch in the evenings, it is an open invitation for them to stop by.

Friday night we had a few visitors and lively conversations on books, politics, the city trash program and our immediate block.

We have diverse neighbors, which makes for fun times.

We are thankful we live in this classic neighborhood with large front porches and sidewalks!

Neighbor Tip - What To Take To Bed With You!

YOUR CAR KEYS

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

It's a security alarm system you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your home and will keep honking until you reset it with the button on the key remote. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your home, odds are the burglar won't stick around... After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough, the criminal won't want that.

And remember to carry your keys while walking to/from your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there...

The above information is quoted from our neighborhood association newsletter. We have been having some "issues" in our neighborhood recently.

I thought it was a great suggestion and wanted to share it with my readers.

Oh Christmas Tree

I promised a few pictures of our porch Christmas tree that was decorated by family, friends and neighbors during our party.

The full tree:

Close up #1

Close up #2The tree looks spectacular both during the day and at night, when the lights are on.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

The Second Annual Powell Porch Party

In 2008, The Husband and I began hosting a Christmas open house for family, friends and neighbors. Our second party was held this past Sunday.

The purpose of the party is to come together, have fun and paint salt dough ornaments to decorate the Christmas tree on our front porch.

Below, the art table awaits the artists.

The Eddins family creating several masterpieces.

Family and friends working hard.

Friends and neighbors continue the efforts.

We had about 40 people at the party, resulting in a great variety of ornaments.

Our Christmas tree looks great! I'll post photos soon.

A Neighbor's Gift

Our neighbor, David, has been most generous to us.

He has gifted us with the marble rolling pin and marble slab we used to make the salt dough cookies.

How sweet is that?

Of course, he did indicate he would be happy to accept any portion of edible items we make using this equipment.

He certainly understands quid pro quo, doesn't he?

Thank you, David!

The Tomatoes are Finally In!

Remember when I posted about our planting the garden? It was on April 19th. Well, guess what? It's September 9th and we are FINALLY getting some tomatoes!

Last month we were able to harvest a few little ones that were starting to ripen on the vine, but just a few. The tomatoes are now growing big and getting ripe. All at once, of course!

It was very strange...the plants grew fantastically all summer - tall, green, healthy, with little bitty tomatoes that just wouldn't get big.

But now, we can go out every evening and return to the kitchen with this:

The neighbors are going to love us when I ring their doorbells and offer fresh tomatoes!

Neighborhood

The phone rang this evening. The Husband answered. It was a neighbor.

"Hi. It's my birthday. We are having food and drinks for a few friends. Come on over, if you like."

We, of course, "liked."

New Neighbors!

Look...the fairies have moved into our tree.

I can't wait to get to know them better!

Friday Night on the Porch

We purchased our current house because of two things: 1) the large dining room and 2) the large front porch.

Last night was a perfect porch night. We were there from 4:00pm until 8:00pm. In that time, a neighbor came to update us on her family's week, plus the latest "going ons" in the neighborhood.

Additionally, there were lots of neighbors out walking with dogs and without dogs (our neighborhood has sidewalks, thank you!) and sitting on their porches--visiting, laughing and passing the time.

There were numerous large City of Tulsa trucks and heavy equipment just down the block at the location where a house was recently demolished. This was interesting!

Our neighbors directly across the street went to a party tonight. They left their 13 year old son home alone. He could shoot baskets on the driveway as long as we (The Husband and I) were on the porch. He did not even cringe at the restriction of "the neighbors" watching him. He shot hoops for a while and then told us "I'm going inside." Bless his heart! He is a good boy and we hope he stays that way.

We are so appreciative of the neighborhood in which we live. We were entertained tonight without ever turning on the TV. How many areas can you say that about?

Home and Garden Tour

A neighbor and I went on the 14th Annual Maple Ridge Home and Garden tour on Sunday.

My favorite house on the tour is at 320 E 19th Street.  The homeowners and contractors did a wonderful job of transforming the outdoor space into a lovely oasis. It really made me want us to get serious about our backyard.  

What Neighborhood Do You Live In?

We live in a FANTASTIC 'hood.

We just returned from a neighbor's house.   They offered up their very COOL kitchen (pots/pans/utensils) to a neighbor to use to prepare food for her sisters baby shower. The neighbors who own the house were not there until much later in the evening, due to a previous engagement.  Would you open your home to your (crazy) neighbors when you were not there?  

The Husband and I are thankful that we live in a neighborhood where our neighbors trust, if not love us, every day.