The following pages tell a little about us.

Hobbies and Interests

My background and training is in Interior Design; a field in which I've worked for 25 years. For many years I had a small shop at an Antique Market, and developed a deep interest in Antiques. I love the Victorian period of furniture, clothing, and memorabilia. As a designer, I've done mainly residential, but some commercial sites, and my gift is really more visually artistic. My husband's gift is really putting beautiful and functional things together, and makes our living as a Remodeling Contractor. The blessing is that we can work together, and have many interests in common.

When married only about 5 years, we bought an 80 year old house for $1000.00, and had it moved from it's location to a piece of property 35 miles away. We had to tear the roof off to move it, dormer windows and all, and when it finally arrived, it was quite a shock!  We took 6 months and remodeled it, and still live in it today (20 years later). We still have the original old claw footed bath tub, and a vintage pull chain toilet. We have sinks set into old sideboards, which 25 years ago was more novel an idea than it is now. We've tried very hard to maintain the old antique feel to the house. Old homes take a lot of maintenance! So, we keep busy.

At the moment, (2006), we're in the middle of installing some beautiful new wood floors.  As we live in a humid climate, and have very heavy furniture, we decided on bamboo, which is about 28% stronger than oak, and is solid all the way through, and ours is stained a lovely cherry color which will go nicely with our furniture. I've been looking into some lovely inlays for wood floors; kind of like Jewelry for the floor. 

One of my amateur hobbies is photography. I love to take pictures of my family. Our favorite time of year here in Houston is March, when we all go to Bayou Bend, the home of former Texas Governor Hogg's daughter, Ima Hogg.  It is the most beautiful 15 acres of azaleas you've ever seen!  It's a lovely place to bring your babies, and take beautiful pictures that would rival any professional photographers.

Our family is one that loves to read and our favorite places to go are Katy Budget Books, Half Price Books, and a neat new store here in Houston called 75% Off Books.  It's really funny, but some of the very best books we've found are here at these stores.

Through the years, I've done a lot of sewing, and love to do French Hand sewing by hand as well as by machine. I've done quite a bit of Shadow work embroidery, which is a lot of fun to do, fairly easy, in that it doesn't require counting as in cross stitch or even smocking.  Shadow work embroidery looks so fragile, and hard to do - but that is really deceptive, as it is really easy, and something that can be done while talking, or doing something else.

Lately, we've begun to get into scrap booking, stamping, and embossing, but we need to get busy and finish a few of these projects!  (can anyone with drawers of pictures relate?)

As my eldest daughter enjoys sewing, I've taken her to several classes with me, and now she is very accomplished at Silk Ribbon Embroidery, and other techniques. She also loves to cook, and has taught herself to play the flute. She is now pursuing learning about Lamp work glass beads.  We've been making jewelry using semi-precious stones, Bali silver, crystal beads.  This is a truly fun and interesting hobby that can turn into more if desired. 

Kids grow up quickly, and at this writing my eldest is 16 and into her 2nd year of debate.  She and her partner just this month competed in the Texas State NCFCA Debate tournament and won 3rd place, and will be going to Regionals next month in April. She also gave a open interpretation speech, and received 4th place. Overall, in Texas, she received a debate speaker ranking of 6th place.  She's doing very well, and we're proud of her. She's thinking about a career as a paralegal.

My youngest daughter is an aspiring artist, enjoys drawing, reading, and shows great promise in music. Her voice is lovely. A few years ago, she entered her first drawing in Art Class into the Austin County State Fair, and won a 1st place ribbon for it. She too loves making jewelry with glass beads, stones, and silver. She is learning how to sew, and is making many neat sewing projects.

My main interest is doing alternative medicine research, using Homeopathy, Essential oils, Rife resonant therapy, Biofeedback, cold laser therapy, herbs, and learning how to make our own tinctures. There's always something to read, research, and people to talk with.  Life is interesting! We all love Science, thus our interest as seen here on this web site.

Acknowledgments for Graphics and Files