Weeks 40 & 41

We were in Sta. Rosa last Sunday with sketchy internet and I didn't even try to post my photos for Project 365 so this week I'm doing a 2-for-1.

What would you say if I told you I sent my husband to the Disco for a Bimbo?
And that I had photographic proof that he was successful?!

I can just hear you groaning. I know, I know, we have a very juvenile sense of humor at times :)

Ever since friends brought us dill seed (three different varieties!) in May, I've been anxious to get them planted but had to wait until winter was over. We finally put the garden in a couple weeks ago and here's my lovely baby dill already growing in neat little rows:

I can already taste the yummy dill pickles I'll be making in a few months! [Which we can't get here.]

Our roses are going great guns. Here's one of the first I saw blooming:

And here's a vase of roses from our yard that co-workers picked and arranged to welcome us back from Sta. Rosa. Lovely!

We went to Sta. Rosa last weekend to finish up all that we'd started the previous visit. But this trip we made time to take a few walks... on one stroll through the neighborhood we saw horses grazing...

...and another day I snapped this photo of the way the sun made the water sparkle like diamonds...

I had intended to work on a baby quilt while Ivan worked on the kitchen and got so far as to figure out the arrangement of the blocks...

...but slicing off the tip of my thumb with the rotary cutter put those plans on hold. It's going to be a rather different baby quilt based on what the parents want -- and not my style at all, but it's starting to grow on me.

Ivan put in a lot of hours to get all the cabinet doors back on, build a new framework for the drawers and fix the actual drawers so they slide in and out easier, install new handles and grout all the tile. Doesn't it look nice now?!

I do adore a white kitchen.

The darker countertop really makes the white pop, don't you think?

This is what it looked like BEFORE:

AFTER:

And one final shot of the corner where we removed the lower cabinet ruined by water damage, shortened the upper cabinet, tiled the walls, and slid the fridge in:

It feels SOOOOOO good to have that done! But now I'm itching to paint the walls! :)  I have the color already picked out, but that project will have to wait until next year.

A friend from our home church is doing the bilingual program at Palabra de Vida Bible Institute in Buenos Aires this year and he came to visit us for a few days. He and Ivan climbed up to the cross on Friday (you can find Via Crucis in almost every community) and took lots of pictures along the way.

We also took him on a drive up the Punilla Valley, stopping at a monument that is supposed to be in the very center of the country. Not sure if it's all that accurate but it's a lovely monument with flags flying for each province.

I will probably have to do a 2-for-1 again in two weeks. We have a big group of Bible Institute students coming next weekend and I know, from past experience, that we're going to be B.U.S.Y! But they should also provide some great photo opportunities :)