A Wonderful Mess

Current Project

2010-03-09T22:08:00.004-06:00

I'll give you a sneak peak at a project I have been working on. A few weeks ago I stopped into my favorite fabric store- Home Fabrics and Rugs. It has tons of closeout fabrics at awesome prices. And then the whole back section is just for clearance fabric that is even discounted more. And most of it is drapery weight fabric- nice stuff for any house projects you might have in mind. So on this particular trip, I was looking for some fabric to make curtains for our closet doors. I knew I wanted something with red in it since that's what I'm using as an accent color in that room. That's when I spotted this:

Yeah that one!

Here it is up close.

And check out the price!

So I've been busy cutting and trying out some hem tape. I figured no need to sew, since these curtains are just for our closets and won't be inspected carefully by anyone....hopefully!

I'll be back later with the after pictures. That is, if they turn out well.

But that will have to wait until next week, because this weekend I will be busy visiting my brand new niece, Ellie- I can't wait to hold her and kiss all over her sweet face!

Pictures of her will follow too, I'm sure!

Oh Monday

2010-02-22T11:59:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T13:15:00.000-06:00

SNOW DAY!!

2010-02-12T21:38:00.005-06:00

Well, thanks to the wintry mix around here, we woke up this morning to no power in the house. So we bundled up and headed to the in-laws to watch movies all day on their giant TV from the comfort of their new recliners :) We're lucky they just live around the corner!

(isn't he cute in his hat and scarf... I think so)

We saw this snowman on the way.

Complete with hula skirt & coconut bra.

My rain-boots sure came in handy.

It may be cold and wet outside, but my toes have been toasty and dry!

Also, lucky for us these little cuties were in town for the weekend.

Ty made a beard of Floam.

The younger two wouldn't stop long enough for a picture.

It was so cute to watch Lainey follow Bryce around and copy whatever he was doing

Even when the activity of choice was throwing a floam ball at her head!

Silly kids :)

Around Here

2010-02-11T15:32:00.007-06:00

Here's what's been going on this past week! I've been too busy with work to post everyday, but as today was a snow day I had a little extra time.

Last weekend our twin nieces came in for a visit. Kinley & Ansley, you are so sweet and it's fun to watch you grow! I can't believe they are almost one.

Shopping with the sister-in-laws & mother-in-law (Betty wouldn't get in the picture), always a good time :) I'm blessed to have family that I enjoy and love so much on both sides.

And this is what I've been reading this week. Contemplating making something special for Valentines... not sure if I can. I need a lot of practice. Anyone hungry?

These pretties were from my sweet husband! When he brought them home earlier this week they were all closed up and green, but yesterday they decided to bloom. Hopefully they will last a little while- they brighten up my kitchen so much!

And finally . . . snow! Oh it's beautiful in the trees- I love it!

And that's been our week! Now we're looking forward to a great weekend with friends and family!

The view lately

2010-02-02T18:53:00.005-06:00

We have had a lot of these this week:

It has been quite chilly... at least for Texas, my friends in Germany might have a different idea of "chilly"!

This has been the other view around here lately:

Since we've been spending our evenings inside, hunkered down due to the recent sickness and chilliness, we have been going back through all the old seasons of LOST to get caught up and ready for the 6th and final season that starts tonight!! Randall figured out how to hook up our computer to our TV so we can watch our favorite reruns from hulu.com on the bigger screen. We are going to go watch the season premiere with our friends the Densons who are also big fans- I'm excited! Any other LOST fans out there excited for tonight!?

Doctor's office magazines

2010-01-28T22:53:00.004-06:00

So, I've spent the better part of the last two days asleep on my couch. I have a bad sore-throat and feel achey all over. I finally went to the care now last night because it didn't seem to be going away. After a couple hours there I was told that I just had a bad cold that could last 7-10 days and there was no medicine to cure it just some to help with the pain of my sore throat and help me sleep... great. At least they had some good magazines to read while I was waiting to see the doc. Here's a couple interiors I liked out of the Feb issues of Country Home and House Beautiful.

This last photo looks like a fun table-setting for a sweet Valentine's Party. I like the idea of using those industrial looking garden chairs along side the fancy chandelier and candlesticks.

Wild Berry Zinger

2010-01-25T09:31:00.004-06:00

This morning I woke up with a scratchy throat.

I hope I'm not getting what Randall had last week.

Anyway I'm now enjoying a nice cup of tea - with a little honey... for the throat right?

Right.

And see those darling little owls in the background?

They are salt and pepper shakers

From one of my favorite etsy stores, High Street Market

If you don't know what etsy is you must go there now

They sell anything handmade or vintage that you could imagine

It's fantastic

But beware, you could loose hours of your day searching for goodies!

2010-01-23T23:33:00.001-06:00

New nightstand and a clean room.

Exciting Friday Night...

2010-01-22T22:07:00.004-06:00

I know, I know..... it's Friday night and I'm blogging! Randall & I just had a quiet night-in tonight. We are so busy usually that it's nice just to stay home and relax sometimes! So this is what we did:

I baked sugar cookies. Mmmm

Baking is therapeutic.

I bake while singing along to good music (specifically the "Glee Cast" station on Pandora).

I am making heart shaped sugar cookies.

The plan is to bake them and then freeze them so when Valentine's Day comes around all I have to do is thaw and decorate them- the fun part!

My favorite recipe is one from my Aunt Claire - they are the best Sugar Cookies! I think the magic ingredients are the sour cream and nutmeg. I might just have to bake a couple and test them out tonight!

And.....Randall slept. He's been sick all week and is still not fully recovered. He did manage to watch an episode of his favorite show Project Runway first :)

New Plan

2010-01-22T21:55:00.003-06:00

I have a new plan for my blog. This new plan came about because of a couple facts:

1- I am horrible about updating my blog
2- I'm not a good writer, nor do I enjoy it
3- My camera is still not fixed
4- I jumped on the bandwagon and got an IPhone, and it has a handy little camera app

So the new plan is:

Take at least one picture with my phone everyday and upload it to the blog with a few words... or not (because a picture's worth a thousand words right?). I think this might be fun way for me to document details of my day whether big or small. So that's it! We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

I'll still do regular posts now and then if there is something I want to go into more detail about. Also Randall & I hope to start doing some more updating to the house soon that we have been procrastinating on, so there will be some more house posts too!

Christmas in Pictures

2009-12-31T01:09:00.008-06:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

I'm dreaming...

2009-12-16T23:12:00.006-06:00

...of a White Christmas!

Well, we may not get a white christmas, but December got off to a good start here in Texas with a little snowfall on the morning of December 1st!

Randall woke me up as he was leaving for work, and I thought something must be wrong but he just wanted to make sure I saw the snow. It was so nice eating my breakfast at the table and watching the flakes come down! It really put me in the Christmas mood. So a few days later we got to work making the house ready for the holidays and decorating the tree.

Of course we had to watch The Christmas Story as we decked the halls!

Here it is all done with the presents wrapped.

I'm a little OCD and have to have all my gift wrap coordinating...

This year the color scheme is brown/red/cream and is a little on the country side. I love wrapping paper! I think wrapping the presents may be more fun for me than unwrapping them! I know it's crazy.

Speaking of paper... I also love scrapbook paper, and my mom gave me a big stack of Christmas printed scrapbook paper last year. Since I haven't done much scrapbooking lately (okay more like not any at all!) I decided to use it to make some Christmas decorations. I came up with an idea for a banner that I hung from some of my shelves. It was REALLY easy to do. I just printed letters spelling out PEACE in a font I liked off the computer in a really large size. Then I cute out the letters and traced them on the scrapbook paper and cut them out again. Then I glued them on a square piece of coordinating scrapbook paper, used a hole punch to punch some holes, strung it on some twine and voila! A festive Christmas banner! It looks homemade but that was the look I was going for. You should try it!

November in a Nutshell

2009-12-12T00:24:00.017-06:00

Yes I realize that it's December 12. I also realize that I am a MUCH better blog READER than a blog WRITER. It's just more fun to see what other people are up to instead of writing about something you've already done. But I want to have some recollection of my life as it is now so I will do a little recap of November since it came and went so quickly without a word on this blog! I'll warn you now it might be a long one, so just look at the pictures and make up your own fun story to go with them if you don't feel like reading!

So, we had a pretty rough start to the month of November (read with heavy sarcasm). We spent it lying on the beautiful beaches of Cabo San Lucas. I have an awesome job, and as a reward they gave me this wonderful vacation! Needless to say, we were pretty ecstatic!

To get to the resort you go through a tunnel through a mountain lit with flaming sconces and candelabras and it opens up on the Pacific Ocean.

Once in the resort the mountain separated us from the rest of the city and gave us an amazing view of the ocean.

The place we stayed at was sort of a timeshare/condo thing so it was even more fancy and secluded than a normal hotel. Here's our kitchen & living areas:

Both the main balcony and the balcony in our room had infinity pools.

We were forced to eat a huge Mexican breakfast each morning and I even got my first massage from the spa there! I also think I took a nap just about every day - that sun wears you out!

One day we did manage to ventured away from our little paradise and took a fishing trip.

We rented a private boat and two men took us out into the pacific to fish for Mahi Mahi and Marlin. I was enjoying the boat for about the first hour and then not so much... Randall caught two Mahi Mahi though so the day was well spent! Too bad I didn't feel like eating fish that evening!

Our last evening there we decided to go all out and order room service for dessert. We order something called "Tour of Chocolate" yes that's right, the "Tour of Chocolate". It was an amazing assortment of chocolate in all shapes and sizes, souffles, mouses, creme brulees, raw, with coffee, you get the picture. It was fantastic and I only wished that we had gotten it earlier in the week and I could have ordered it every day!

All rested and relaxed, we came home from our sunny vacation to see that fall had arrived while we were gone. The trees on our street were beautiful and our yard looked like this: I loved it! Not so sure about Randall since he was doing the raking.

Then finally Thanksgiving came and since my camera battery died that day this is the only picture of Thanksgiving I have. These are my in-laws.... a little odd looking if you ask me ;)

Let's Pretend Halloween Party

2009-10-26T20:00:00.001-05:00

For those of you that don't know, Halloween is Randall's birthday. Needless to say, it is his favorite holiday. He loves to think up fun costumes and try to carve the best pumpkin and play with dry ice and all that. So for the past two years we have hosted a Halloween party to celebrate his birth and favorite day. But this year we aren't going to be in town... we will be in Cabo Mexico! So he's not too sad that we aren't celebrating in the usual way ;)

The trip was actually given to us by my generous company and we are beyond thrilled to be going! The resort we are staying at is top notch and much nicer than any place we would normally get to stay at! We can't wait! But more about that later.

Since I'm not actually planning a party this year I thought I'd share some good party ideas I came across online that I would use if I were throwing one.

Of course you would be invited with some handmade invites like these:

(I especially like the owl one!)

And I thought these pumpkin votives would be a quick and festive. I would get lots of them since the little pumpkins are pretty inexpensive and spread them all over the house on tables, mantle, and shelves to fill the house with soft spooky candlelight!

The mice silhouettes might be a little time consuming to cut out but worth the effort- aren't they cute!? I'd just sit down with some black construction paper and scissors while watching an classic Halloween movie like Hocus Pocus and cut away.

A few crows and cobwebs would do the trick to make a creepy scene:

And of course there would be plenty of yummy treats like these frosted sugar cookies:

So what do you think? Would you come to my imaginary party? Maybe I'll save a few of these ideas for next year!

(all pictures from marthastewart.com)

Fall Campout

2009-10-25T16:45:00.011-05:00

Finally here are the pics from our camping trip last weekend. We headed out on Friday to Lake Ray Roberts. The first order of business was to set up the tents... Dad and Randall refused to read the instructions on the new tent, but sure enough they got it set up in no time:

It was really nice to get away. We had perfect weather. After what seemed like a month of straight rain, it seemed that everyone had the same idea to go camping this weekend since it was finally nice out. The evenings were chilly and I would get a blanket and sit as close to the fire as possible without actually sitting in it! But oh my goodness - the stars! I guess it has probably been 5 years since I last really saw the stars without all the city lights. I forgot how breathtaking it is. They look so close! It made me kind of sad to think that God intended us to enjoy this beautiful view every night, yet all our city lights distract us and don't allow us to see it. ....Guess I'll just have to move to cabin on a secluded mountainside :)

Anyway, Saturday we went into the town of Whitesboro for their annual Peanut festival. The kids really liked the parade, and we all enjoyed walking around the shops and boths on Main St.

We also enjoyed lunch at a local Catfish place while in town.

Here is the gang:

After lunch we took naps and a bike ride.

Good thing the playground was right across from our campsite- the kids loved that.

And of course the best end to a day of camping is smores. Reese gave them a thumbs up!

Going on a camping trip...

2009-10-15T09:27:00.006-05:00

and I'm taking with me:

-Two new sleeping bags

-One borrowed tent

-Stuff to make smores

-Bikes

-A guitar

-A good book

I'm so VERY much looking forward to spending some time relaxing with people I love and enjoying God's creation a little closer up!

Hopefully I'll have a few pictures to share when I return.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Fall Interior Inspiration

2009-10-08T14:00:00.010-05:00

Here's some photos that have caught my eye lately. They are not full of pumpkins or leaves but they evoke a sense of warmth and coziness making me want to add some orange to my decor to get my house ready for fall!

This past weekend...

2009-10-05T19:55:00.016-05:00

I went on a much needed girls weekend with some of my oldest friends. I hadn't gotten to spend much time with them lately as we are all so busy! It Laura's Birthday on Saturday, and we thought this would be a good way to get together and celebrate. So we headed down to Round Top, TX for the antique festival held there. I had heard about this before but wanted to go see it for myself. It was overwhelming to say the least. There are 3 small towns and all along the two-lane highway connecting them were vendors as far as the eye could see! So we just picked place to park and started walking. I actually made it out of the weekend without buying anything- I think Randall was shocked! We decided that prices actually seemed better in Canton- so we decided to wait. Here is Alex and Ashlea at a shop:

One of our favorite shops we came across called Clutter:

After we walked our feet off... we headed back to the house we had rented to make dinner, rest our tired selves and watch a movie! Here's the 1920s craftsman that we rented in Carmine, TX:

It had all of my favorite qualities of homes from that time: glass door knobs, all wood floors,& built in bookshelves and cabinets. Each room was painted a different color and the house was filled with antique furniture.

My favorite part of the house was in one of the bedrooms- it was the wood floors painted a beautiful turquoise blue and worn over time to shown the wood grain:

Here's the quaint kitchen with Laura and Ashlea cooking us up some grub:

There was even vintage aprons for us to wear as we cooked!

As we were driving around Round Top, we saw a sign for a Book Sale at the local Library so we followed the arrows which led us to this:

...the most darling library I have seen. It used to be a church. I wish my camera could capture all the details of the wonderful ceiling, and molding, and woodwork.

Then we had to buy a couple books in order to help with the upkeep of this beauty!

The second day we were there it rained- hard - all day. So we packed up and heading back. But not without stopping in Brenham for some lunch, Bluebell ice cream, and buttermilk pie. Here are the girls at the counter of the soda shop in the town square, acting nonchalant:

It was a great weekend and I'll leave you with this:

Twin girls you ask?? No. Dogs. In dresses. And bows. And pink sunglasses- with rhinestones. In a dog stroller. There are no words.

Guest Bathroom Before/After

2009-09-29T21:52:00.010-05:00

Let us recall what the guest bath looked like before. Remember that faux paint job. We were never sure if it was supposed to be waves or clouds....... judging from all the fish stickers, I'm going to go with waves:

And the after:

Here's the rundown:

-New tile floor

-Painted wall & cabinets

-Replaced mirror (Kirkland's)

-New brushed nickel light fixture

-Brushed nickel towel racks/t.p. holder (Walmart)

-Clearance shower curtain (BedBath&Beyond)

-Wicker baskets (Walmart)

-Wall art: old frames and pages taken from a wildlife book

Eventually we'd like to:

-Retile shower (or at least get the tub refinished)

-Replace countertop/sink/faucet

I'm BACK!

2009-09-28T22:45:00.011-05:00

(picture from our engagement pics summer 2007)

Sorry for my little hiatus.... I got out of the habit of updating this thing and got sucked into the swirling vortex that is Blogland. I have gotten so caught up in reading others' blogs that I forgot all about my own! But I do want to have some kind of record for this time in my life so I am back at the keyboard typing away!

We haven't done much to the house since we moved in as far as renovations go. It seems that once we moved in and got comfy, we no longer saw the imperfections that were once on our to-do lists. We will get to them in time I'm sure.

But for now, I'm going to try to show some more before/after pics of the rooms in our house in the next few posts so stay tuned!

Garage Sale Success:

2009-05-12T22:44:00.005-05:00

So I had been hoping to find some patio furniture this spring so that we could enjoy our patio and backyard this year! Even sale prices at the department stores were more that I was willing to fork over at this point... so I kept looking. So I was delighted to come across this lovely set at a garage sale a few weeks ago- and guess what? All four pieces for $50. It was all in good shape except the cushions which I have already tossed. So no I just need a few new cushions from Garden Ridge possibly and we are set to go! (I'm debating spray painting it a chocolate brown- any suggestions if it is a good idea to paint fake wicker??) Also, that grill in that background was a $20 garage sale find last fall. It needs a little cleaning and new propane tank but that's alright with us. What can I say, I'm a deal finder! Now if only we could get some grass to grow.... we are working on it!

In Bloom

2009-04-06T22:45:00.007-05:00

So take a peek at what's blooming in my very own back yard!

Now I must confess, none of these beautiful blooms were of my own doing. They were all the handiwork of the previous owners. Because we moved in the fall we had no idea what kind of plants would be popping up in the spring. It has been fun to look out the kitchen window each morning to see what new flowers were blooming. I must also confess that our backyard is not a beautiful garden. These few little flowers are rarities amongst the weeds that have taken over our backyard like a disease. We have only one small patch of actual grass about 2' x 1'. Randall has tried two different types of weed killer and neither one seems to be making a dent in the masses of weeds. At this point I think we may have to just dig up the whole backyard and start from scratch. My goal is to have a lush green St. Augustine lawn by the time our kids are walking (so we have a few years!). Any ideas?

Master Bedroom

2009-03-26T15:49:00.010-05:00

So here is the before and after of our master bedroom. When we bought the house the walls of the master looked disgusting. It looked like someone had repeatedly thrown buckets of dirty water all over the walls! If you are just now joining us, you may be wondering why we took up all the laminate wood flooring that was put in throughout the house. Well it looks fine in the pictures but in reality the boards were not installed correctly and there were many large gaps throughout the house that could not be fixed. Also, we preferred the darker wood flooring we now have in our living areas and Randall was insistent that we had carpet in the bedrooms. So in this room we: scraped popcorn ceilings, put in carpet, painted walls, painted trim, replaced light fixture.

Before:

After:

The color of our walls is Benjamin Moore - Gravity. LOVE it. It is such a calm and relaxing color that I am now trying to figure out where else in the house I can put it!

Our family just got a LITTLE bit bigger!

2009-03-15T22:51:00.006-05:00

We were excited to welcome Kinley & Ansley into the world last Thursday evening. They decided it was time to come and there was no stopping them! There were over 30 people at the hospital awaiting their arrival. Thank you to everyone who has been saying prayers on these little ones behalf. They have worked! 7 weeks ago we had a scare that they might come WAY too early. But thankfully Katie was able to keep them in 7 more weeks and we are so grateful for that. Praise the Lord! They needed that time to grow and get strong. It appears that they are very strong indeed. Although they came out weighing only 3.3 & 3.5 pounds each, they are breathing on their own now and are doing well!

I got to visit them in the NICU on Saturday and it was so exciting to finally see them. Enjoy these pictures!

Me with Ansley Grace

Ansley

Miss Kinley Kate

Jewelry Making Machines!

2009-03-11T09:57:00.009-05:00

Some girls from my brothers youth group came to stay with at our house for a weekend retreat where I taught them how to make jewelry. I was so impressed with how great the girls creations turned out. I am a perfectionist so it takes me forever to put something together. But they whipped out necklace after necklace and they all looked wonderful! Here is our work in progress- we had to have sonic drinks to keep our energy up of course!

And here are some of the finished product! They will be sold to raise money for the youth group! I predict that they are going to sell out and have to make more very soon! But more importantly we all had a great time talking and hanging out together having some girl time!

As an extra bonus, two little cuties came along and stayed at Papa-Dede's house!

Fresh Spring Decor

2009-03-06T08:04:00.004-06:00

These are some pictures I took of a couple vendors at Canton that I thought had especially cute displays. I am loving this look right now- clean white and tan with fresh green natural accents. Enjoy!

I finally...

2009-03-04T23:22:00.006-06:00

... went to Canton! One weekend a month all these vendors haul out their wares/antiques/junk and put it on display for crazy people like us to buy! I have been wanting to go for a long time, so when my good friend Ashlea invited me and I actually had a Saturday with no plans, I jumped at the opportunity. We were on the road the next morning by 8. I was so zealous about the trip I didn't stop to think about the weather forecast and how chilly it would be! So... I ended up with an $10 Mavs sweatshirt by the end of the day (I had to get an extra big size so it would fit over the three layers of clothing I already had on.... guess it will be Randall's sweatshirt now). Here's Ashlea at our necessary Starbuck's stop on the way:

We had our scarves and our walking shoes on- we were ready to get down to business.

I enjoyed the "junk/antique" vendors the best. They also have more boutique like stuff indoors but that was a little steep for my budget. Most of my bargains were between $1 and $3 dollars (except the sweatshirt) and here's what I got home with:

2 vintage aprons

3 blue glass mason jars

1 yellow coca cola crate

some berry garland

& 5 giant clothes pins

I will have to show you after pictures later of what I do with some of this stuff... the wheels are turning.

Okay, I did make one serious purchase from the "nicer" vendors indoors: BEADS.

It's been awhile since I've made anything, but seeing all those shiny stones inspired me. Also, my sister-in-law is coming in town this weekend with some girls from her church and I am going to show them how to turn these strands of beads into beautiful necklaces. They are hoping to sell them to raise money for church camps/retreats etc. for the youth group. Hopefully I'll have some great "after" pictures to show you of our handiwork!

Okay so now everyone knows... if you are looking for someone to go to Canton with... call me! Next time I am taking the pickup so that I can check out the bigger stuff like furniture! I could always use another chair to go in my collection of chairs that need recovering!

Foyer

2009-02-23T18:41:00.004-06:00

BEFORE: (this was textured wall paper on the top half of the wall!)

AFTER:

Drumroll please...

2009-02-13T18:54:00.010-06:00

Okay so I am going to try to start posting some before / after pics of our house. I know it's been awhile since we finished the construction and moved in, but it has been hectic around here. Also taking "after" pictures requires me to clean the room I'm photographing. Needless to say, I will just post a few rooms at a time! Here is our master bathroom:
Before:

After:

Can you tell which item was the only thing to remain in the room in the picture above? And even that got a big face-lift. We used a dark brown gel-stain on the cabinets.

Before:

After:

Before:
.

After:

No more closed in, claustrophobic shower! Nice and open now! Now all I need is for those tile floors to be heated!!

Being Aunt

2009-01-28T10:26:00.015-06:00

I love being an aunt! So far I have 4 nieces and 3 nephews. And guess what?! I'm about to have TWO MORE nieces! Katie announced to us that she was pregnant with twins last fall and we have been eagerly awaiting their arrival ever since. Well I guess they could tell that we were anxious to meet them because they are trying to come early- way too early in fact. The past week has been quite an ordeal for Katie, Jason, and their family. Katie is now on full bed rest at the hospital and she is only at 26 weeks in her pregnancy. She seems to be stable but the doctors say the babies really could come at any time. We are all hoping and praying that those girls stay in a while longer so they can grow big and strong before making their debut. In the meantime Katie is being a good mom by relaxing in her hospital bed (although I'm sure she is about to go nuts because she is confined to one spot!) We have been trying to entertain her, for example, last Saturday night all the siblings went up and played games in her room until very late and had a great time (I'm sure the nurses appreciated that)!
I have no doubt about how cute these girls will be. Randall and I have nothing but cute nieces and nephews- if you don't believe me, take a look at our existing 7:

Welcome 2009

2009-01-13T21:17:00.003-06:00

Finally we have wireless internet up and running in the house (thanks to our technologically gifted friend Kyle), and I'm all set! My only resolution for the new year is to be less busy. When we first got married in August of 2007, our lives were pretty simple. Just work and then home to relax with each other (we watched a few seasons of the Office and LOST to be exact!). We didn't have too many friends in the area yet as most of them were still away at school, so pretty much we just spent time with each other. But as soon as the year 2008 hit, we were busy beyond belief! I honestly don't think we had a single "free" weekend in the year 2008 where we had nothing to do. Let's see: participated in 3 weddings, gained 4 nieces, visited siblings in 3 different cities, bought a house, renovated a house, moved into the house. Most of the things we were busy with were enjoyable things to do, it was just that we were going all the time. So, although 2008 has been a great year, I am ready to say goodbye to it in hopes that 2009 will be more relaxing!

Our December in a Nutshell

2008-12-29T18:51:00.028-06:00

Since we have not had internet at the house for the past month... I haven't updated in a month. Sorry. I will do a recap now and vow to be more diligent in the new year!

My brother Caleb and his wife Jennie moved to Brownwood, TX this past summer. Even though it is only 2 1/2 hrs away, we had not made it out to see them. So to make up for it we went twice this December. This first weekend was just becaused we missed them and the second weekend was for Reese's 2nd birthday!

This little one cracks me up with how much she likes her toes!

Uncle Randall found Reese some Jelly Beans........... a common favorite for the pair.

Aubrie really wanted that milkshake!

These pics were taken at a little soda shop/drugstore we stopped at for some ice cream!

Sweet boys.

Then Uncle Randall helped put up a Christmas tree for the second time this year! (Caleb had a meeting at church and we were anxious to decorate it!)

Here are a couple pics from when we went back down for Reese's birthday!

Yay firetrucks!

Watch out for this one- he is bound to be an all-star in one sport or another. Current favorites are golf, baseball, and basketball. (He will make a golf club out of any object he can find)

Grandmother and Poppy joined us for the trip for his brithday.

Somehow Grandmother and Aubrie always seem to match!

The weekend before Christmas, Randall's family came in to celebrate Christmas early! i LOVE that I love all my inlaws and that we have so much fun together. This year we finally got to play games and it was a blast (even if we had to lock the kids up in the back room in order to do it)...just kiddding, no children were harmed in our holiday fun! Speaking of...here are the little darlings:

Granny & Grandad came over and joined us for dinner.

I'm not sure if Uncle Randall is attacking Bryce, or if Bryce is attacking Uncle Randall here!

So many gifts! This isn't even the half of it!

Christmas Eve was celebrated at my Grandma Carol's house where we had the traditional wonderful enchilada dinner. My contribution were these snowflake red velvet cookies:

Mom and Dad being festive in their red.

My favorite part of Christmas Eve is the the midnight service - I love it! The church is old with wonderful architeture, the music is beautiful, and there are candles!

This year Shelby and Nate happened to come to the same service we went to! These two just got engaged and I think they are great for each other!

Christmas Day, Randall and I slept in until 11! We had nowhere to be this year and no kids of our own to wake us at the crack of dawn, so we enjoyed getting some extra rest! The rest of the day was spent having a lovely lunch at my cousin Amy's house, and then dinner at my Grandmother's.

My cousin Jordan's baby- Saniyah trying to kiss Aubrie. There are babies everywhere this year!

Poppy says that Aubrie "smiles with her eyes". It's true.

This is papadede's gift to Reese and Aubrie. Notice papa / dede is one word (dede is what Reese calls my mom). I think it takes my parents back to see these two so close in age like me and Caleb were.

The Day After Christmas we opened presents with my parents and Caleb and Jennie.

Also over the holidays I got together with some girlfriends and had some good food, and good conversation!

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas of relaxing and enjoying family and friends.

O Christmas Tree.....

2008-12-06T12:42:00.007-06:00

This week Randall and I have been on vacation! Randall's job would not allow him to take vacation before now due to the pressure to get the school he was building completed by the deadline. However, he also had to take his vacation before the end of the year when it would expire. So a December vacation we had! We decided it would be best not to go anywhere to far or expensive right now, and took the opportunity to do some much needed things around the house. I got most of the kitchen things put away in the cabinets and was able to cook our first real meal in the house (frozen pizza doesn't count!). My parents and Caleb came over for chili, cornbread casserole, and chocolate pie! The more family and friends we have over to the house, the more it feels like a home.
Along with housework, we also took time to put up a few Christmas decorations and went out and got a Christmas tree. No more fake trees for this girl, I like the real thing! So we got our Noble Fir from the local Wal*mart (next year I'm going to convince Randall to go out to Wall's Family Tree Farm and cut down our own), and brought it home to decorate. Only a few small delays: First is always the fun task of cutting the seal off the bottom of the tree so it will take up water. Here's my handy man at work!

We decided to get a bigger tree this year than last as we knew our living room ceiling was raised. What we failed to remember was that it was only raised in the middle of the room and not on the sides where the tree would go:

That would not do so it was back outside for Randall and tree to cut EIGHTEEN more inches off the tree to make it fit! We had a good laugh and finally got the tree inside, at an appropriate height, and set straight in the stand. It still awaits lights and decorations.

I also started on another project this week: setting up the Christmas Village my mother in law gave me that was given to her by a friend who bought it all and only used it once! It is so cute and I love all the little details on each one. The set comes complete with train, bridge, lamp posts and village people. My only problem is where to place all the houses, toy shops, bakeries, and churches as there are limited surfaces to put things in my house.

For now they all rest on a folding table waiting for someone to arrange them and adorn them with snow..... any volunteers?!

Randall couldn't believe how many houses I pulled from the boxes... they just kept coming. His favorite part was the train- boys will be boys!

We are having fun settling in for our first holidays in our new home!

Turkey Day Recap!

2008-12-04T12:10:00.009-06:00

This year Thanksgiving was spent with Randall's family. All of his siblings arrived a few days early to hang out and prepare. Here's are all my sister's-in-law and mother-in-law making Christmas wreaths! It was a success and we now all have beautiful wreaths to put on our doors (except Betty who was too busy helping the rest of us to finish hers!)

Think we had enough materials??

Thankgiving morning turned out to be beautiful. So beautiful that the boys thought it was a perfect time for a little football at the school yard across the street!

But everyone managed to clean up in time for dinner which was held at Randall's Granny & Grandad's. Here is some of the wonderful spread (it's a good think that both of our grandmas make cornbread stuffing, so we never miss out!)

This was my contribution to the meal this year: German Chocolate Cake (my dad and my husband's favorite)

I only got a few family pics before my camera batteries died! But here is Randall with his little sis Katie. Can you believe she is carrying TWO babies in that belly! We should have two new nieces or a new niece & nephew sometime this Spring! Our family was growing fast enough without people bringing them in two at a time!!

And here is Randall's older sis' family: Bryce, Ty, & Lainey!

...then the camera died. Oh well, Thanksgiving was wonderful and by the end of the day our bellies were full and our hearts were warm from a great day of food and family!

Thankfulness

2008-11-24T22:15:00.002-06:00

This weekend I have been thankful for flushing toilets and almost-clear running water! But most importantly I am thankful for a good husband and father-in-law who work tirelessly to make a beautiful home for us!

The bare necessities

2008-11-20T19:17:00.003-06:00

We now have internet and cable..... now it really feels more like home :) Oh the things we have become accustomed to!

MOVING DAY!

2008-11-19T10:59:00.013-06:00

We don't have internet access at the house yet, so I haven't been able to update in a few days. Moving day was this past Saturday. Luckily we haven't acquired too much stuff in the year we've been married, so moving only took a few hours. Putting everything in just the right place and getting it all organized and clean will be a different story though!
We were so glad that Caleb & Jennie came in to help! Our friend Aaron from church, who recently returned from active duty in the Navy, also came to help us!

(I told Caleb he looked like the little mouse on the Cinderella movie who stacks up as much cheese as he can up to his chin until he drops it all!)

Yay for siblings!

Caleb & Aaron tuckered out after a little manual labor.

(This is one of the infamous garage-sale chairs that I will attempt to reupholster in the upcoming months.....right Aunt Claire?!)

Mom & Dad gave the windows a much needed cleaning. Randall commented the other day that now they look like they're not even there they are so clean!

Reese came over later to check out everything.

We are very happy to be all moved into our new home...this has been a long time coming! Celebratory wine given to us by Caleb... reminded me of the scene in It's A Wonderful Life when George and Mary Bailey are welcoming a couple into their new home and give them this blessing:
"Bread...that this house may never know hunger, Salt...that life may always have flavor, and Wine...that joy and prosperity may reign forever."

Surprise Visitors!

2008-11-18T11:05:00.005-06:00

These two little cuties along with their parents surprised us and came in town this weekend to help us move!

No more dirty concrete floors!

2008-11-14T08:11:00.008-06:00

Here's the wood floor, installed, in our house..... I still can't believe my eyes!

Here I am smiling because all the floors are in, and it actually looks like a home now! I'm starting to get really excited!

(ignore the dusty footprints on the floor, we still need to clean it)

A day after the wood was put in....the CARPET came! Carpet went in all of the bedrooms. Randall couldn't resist testing out the soft comfy floors!

And here is the carpet in the master:

Just so you have a realistic picture of where our house currently stands- the master bath still needs some work (as does the kitchen, back porch, and garage). But all in due time!

Wood Floors

2008-11-10T10:19:00.003-06:00

Today our wood floors are being put in! We were originally planning to install them ourselves. It is a glue-down 5" engineered wood. I got it off the clearance rack at Lumber Liquidators. I was excited because they looked really nice and were still on the closeout rack, so I snatched them up! Guess I should have done a little more research first.... If it had been a click-lock type installation we could have handled it just fine, but no one we knew had personally done a glue-down installation. The more I found out about glue-down and the more horror stories I heard about buckling wood floors, the more nervous I became about doing it ourselves. The guy who is doing our carpet, is someone my FIL Danny has worked with quite a bit in the past and he said he would have his guys install the wood for less than half of what most people would charge us. Needless to say we replied, "Okay, have at it!" I feel good about the decision because now it will be done by professionals, and it will get us into the house that much faster and with one less thing (one big thing) to worry about. So here's what the floors should look like:
(this pic is from lumberliquidators.com)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDALL!

2008-11-06T19:51:00.007-06:00

On Halloween night we took a little break from working on the house to celebrate Randall's Birthday! For weeks I had been planning a surprise party for him, and I was so nervous that the surprise would get spoiled either by my big mouth or someone else's! But we did it and he was happily surprised! It was a close one though. Caleb and Jennie had come in town early to hang out with us and Caleb's only job for Friday afternoon was to keep Randall away from our house (the party site) and from his parents house (where his two sisters and there families were arriving from out of town and getting ready for the party). Well, Caleb goes to put Reese down for a nap and what do you know........... falls asleep before Reese. In the meantime, Randall decides to go to his parents house for something. This all happens about an hour before the party is to start. So Jennie calls Randall's sister Jennifer to warn them - no answer. Jennie calls me - no answer. Jennie calls my dad, he answers, gives the phone to me. I then call Jennifer - no answer. I call my mother-in-law, Betty - no answer. I call my brother-in-law Josh - finally an answer! "Randall is on his way to the house."(Me). "JEN WE GOTTA GO!"(Josh). So Jennifer and Josh SOMEHOW loaded up their three children and all of their belongings into their van and drove off. Now this is all pretty amazing because my parent's house where Randall was coming from and his parents house are about 5 minutes away from each other and about 10 phone calls were made before we got ahold of anyone at the Roseberry's house! And just to prove how close of a call it was, Randall later told us that he thought he saw Jen's van in front of the house when he rounded the corner but by the time he got to the house it was gone so he figured it was someone else. We are pretty sneaky! Thanks to all who helped pull it off- I'm very impressed!
Okay now the party was at a skating rink (this is because Randall always brings up the sad story from his childhood when he had a skating party and the neighbor girl and her sister were the only ones to show up!). Since it was on Halloween I thought it would be fun to do an 80s theme!
Check out Randall's costume that Jennie and I whipped up - a Rubiks Cube!

Wouldn't we have made great teenagers in the 80s!?

Girls race...Caleb & I both won the girls and guys races....because we went roller-skating EVERY Friday with daycare. It's like riding a bike- it all comes back the second the skates are laced up!

Three of my four beautiful sisters-in-law, I am so lucky!! The one in the middle, Katie, (with the temporary blue hair) is PREGNANT.....with TWINS! I wasn't sure if I had shared that on here yet. We are super excited for her!

After skating (which is alot more tiring than I remembered and requires a lot more "time outs" to rest than it used to!), we all went back to our unfinished house :) and played Rock Band and other games. Here are some of the guys and Katie rockin' out!

First Impressions

2008-10-29T23:44:00.001-05:00

Red door....................Check!

Cute as a pumpkin!

2008-10-29T01:40:00.004-05:00

So if either of my baby nieces and a pumpkin come in close proximity to me at the same time.... I might not be able to refrain from doing this:

(Not sure who this baby is, came across her through google!)

Another weekend

2008-10-29T01:29:00.004-05:00

We are nearing the end of our allotted time for the house renovations and things are starting to get a little stressful around here. Good thing more family came to help us out this past weekend. Sorry I don't have the energy for writing much after working at the house until 12 each night, so future posts may be pictures only from now on!

Dad helped me give the toilets a much needed cleaning in the back yard.

The power-washer came in quite handy.... except that when you aim it in the toilet bowl all the water just comes right back out at you!

BIL, Jason and Randall's Grandad finished putting up all the crown molding in the living room and kitchen- it looks great!

What a tough bunch.

A Family Affair

2008-10-25T20:29:00.010-05:00

Last weekend some of my in-laws came in town to help us with our house! We got a lot done and as always, it is so much more fun when there are more people working together. We had fun joking around and singing along with the radio as we worked! Here are a few pictures of the everybody in action, including the kiddos:

My mother-in-law being her usual fun self :)

Brother in law, Josh hard at work taping of all the trim.

My beautiful niece Lainey came to help too! She is SO sweet and cuddly!

This busy mother-of-three didn't have her hands full enough, so she came to help US out! Thanks Jen!

I was impressed at how well Ty handled the electric drill. All it took was a quick lesson from Papa and he was ready to go- he went around the house searching for any hardware he could take off.

Now this is a rare sight as this cute boy doesn't sit still for a minute. He entertained himself while we worked by chasing Katie's little dog (chihuahua/shih-tzu mix) around and around. He LOVED it!

And this picture has nothing to do with working on the house and was taken Sunday after church, but I thought that Randall and Lainey matching so perfectly and unintentionally was the cutest thing. Look at those gray and pink polka-dotted pants! Precious.

A Tiny Fighter

2008-10-24T09:56:00.006-05:00

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of Randall's family: Abiola "Gabriel" Lawal. His mom, Amanda was not even 6 months along in her pregnancy when the doctors had to do a cesarean yesterday. Amanda had severe Preeclampsia which you can read more about here. As you can imagine, Amanda seemed very nervous and worried as the doctors tried to decide what to do. The family that was up at the hospital circled around her and said a prayer while we waited to hear more from the doctors. We are so lucky to have an amazing Lord to go to in our times of need and our times of joy. The doctors determined that an emergency cesarean was the best option for both baby and mom. Little Gabriel came out crying, which the doctors didn't expect in one so small, and said that it was a good sign. Gabriel weighed in at a whopping 1.4 pounds! Mother and baby were doing fine when I left the hospital last night. The doctors said Amanda may get worse before she gets better. Your prayers would be much appreciated for both mom, that she may heal from the surgery and the Preeclamsia quickly, and also for Gabriel that he continue to grow healthy and strong!

Tile Sneak Peak

2008-10-20T23:34:00.004-05:00

Tile!

2008-10-15T11:12:00.002-05:00

So the tile guys are on there way to the house AS I TYPE, and I am oh so excited about that fact! Pictures to come!

A Productive Weekend

2008-10-13T22:06:00.008-05:00

This past Saturday we had a whole crew over working on the house. Work is so much more fun when shared with friends and family. We area very grateful to those who came and helped, thanks guys! The house is in much better shape now than it was last week!

Mom and Dad worked on cleaning the piles and piles of dirt and debris off the floor and gave them a good mopping (although we will have to spend many more back-breaking hours trying to scrape every bit of dried paint off the concrete before the wood floors can go down). But for now they look great to me.... walking in and seeing dirt free concrete floors warms my heart!

Randall's job for the day was cutting and installing the baseboards throughout the house as the previous ones did not survive demo day. Good thing his company is paying for SAFETY TRAINING as it is really paying off..... wait, no.... I'm pretty sure using a trashcan for a saw table and having no protective hand or eye-gear does NOT comply with the appropriate safety measures. His mother couldn't watch and had to leave and pray he still had ten fingers when the day was done. Good thing he is a little handy-man and knows what he is doing!

Our friend Jay came over to help and didn't mind doing super fun jobs like filling the 3,000 nail holes in the baseboards with putty! You are appreciated!

Our friend Aaron also came to help in the fun. Would you want to let these two loose in your home?

And this is officially the first photo of the two of us in our new home. Good job honey. I sure hope we get all this done soon as I'm not sure how much more Randall can take (as evidenced by this photo). But really it has been a fun, if trying, experience and I'm glad I get to share it with him. I can't wait to actually live in the house!

And finally at the days end, brother Caleb, sil Jennie, nephew Reese, and niece Aubrie stopped in town on their way home from a trip. Here is a picture of little "darlin". She was all decked out in an adorable hot pink and black monogramed dress with a zebra print bow! That is one stylin' gal.

Aubrie loves people to talk to her. If you get in her face and talk in a sweet voice she will give you the biggest gummy grin- what a cutie!

Also this weekend my fil, Danny painted the outside of the house. He admitted to doubting my choice in paint color, but in the end admitted that it looked great and I wasn't as crazy as he thought! I will post pics of that as soon as I get the front door painted.....RED!

"Catch-up" continued

2008-10-12T22:56:00.008-05:00

In the last couple weeks we also got all the walls in the house painted. This is the part I had been waiting for! It made such a big difference and made me feel like we were really getting things done! I love color and it was fun to see my plans for the house put into action! I am pleased with how most of the rooms turned out. I was getting quite frustrated trying to pick out colors because how it looked on a 2x2 inch sample and how it looked on the wall were two very different things.... so it was a tricky game, and I am glad to be done with it!
My brother, Caleb, happened to be in town last week and came over to help us one evening. I feel like I haven't got to spend much time with lately as he has been busy graduating and moving his little family to a small west Texas town to work as a youth minister. I know his is doing a great job there doing the Lord's work and I am happy for that, but I do miss getting to hang out with him more often. SO- it was good to get to see him and talk while we painted (and when I say "talk" I really mean "listen to him argue with the radio" as we were listening to the Presidential debates. He is an opinionated little thing that is for sure. His son can name both presidential candidates by sight or sound.

Speaking of the little ones, we got to see them briefly as well, and they are as cute as ever:

Reese loves "darlin" (as he calls her) and loves to give her kisses, she loves him too and really lights up when he comes to talk to her.

Hope you enjoyed these pics. I will post about our very productive weekend tomorrow perhaps!
C

Out of the rut!

2008-10-10T23:43:00.005-05:00

(Uncle Cliff, this post is at your request- I am encourage that someone is reading out there!) Well, we kind of got into a rut with the house a few weeks back and I guess that is where the blog updates stopped. But we are officially out of the rut now and on the move! We only have about 3 weeks left until our deadline :0 So I will try to catch you up to speed. Preparing all the walls to texture seems to be the most tedious and time consuming task so far. Randall's dad, Danny, spent many hours going over and over our walls making sure they were even and just right! I am lucky to have such a giving father-in-law!

Now all the ceilings and walls have a lovely texture on them. The ceilings also got a good coat of paint and are completely finished now (1 thing down......97 to go). The actual spraying on of the texture took no time at all compared to the days and days of prep work! Doesn't our dining room look like a winter-wonderland?!

The KITCHEN is far from done as you can see here:

And it's still hard to take a good picture in the house with all the dust!

I know we must have done more in the 4 weeks since I've posted last, but as it's midnight and I've been working at the house all evening I can't type any more! Goodnight y'all! More to come soon!

COLOR

2008-09-10T22:00:00.004-05:00

I couldn't take it anymore! This week I went out, bought some pints of paint, and tested them out on some of our finished walls to see how I liked the colors. This is the part of redoing the house that I am most looking forward to. I forgot just how much I love opening a fresh can of paint. I know that sounds weird, but it's the truth, I love it! And it's a good thing I got small cans of paint to do a test run with first, because not all the colors I picked are keepers. However, at this point, I think I am pleased with how 4 of the 5 turned out. (If Randall had a say in this matter, I think he would MAYBE keep ONE of the colors (which would be the one I am changing)). So here they are:

Can you guess which color I am going to use for which room (if I haven't already told you)??? Do these colors scare any of you? It's okay, they scare Randall too. But I am not afraid!

What a man!

2008-09-09T21:47:00.009-05:00

So, the repairs on the house are a little behind schedule. But that is just what happens when you try to plan everything in your life out perfectly. It is good to remember that sometimes you just have to go with the flow and be flexible! Randall has been sanding down the ceilings and walls, getting them ready for another round of tape and bed! I want to pause here to give some much deserved praise to my husband. I feel like lately I have been getting upset with him over petty things and I don't give him enough credit for the things he does do. I have to say, Randall is one of the most hard working people I know (I think he gets a lot of this from his father). He can put in a 10+ hour day at work, adding on a two hour commute round trip, and then he will come home and work as many hours as he can on our house. And that's not it- The thing that impresses me the most is he does it all without uttering one complaint. He has been commuting to Waxahachie now for over a year and not once has he complained about it or about the early hour at which he must wake up to get there by 7am. I sure could take a lesson from him! So, in case I don't say it enough, I appreciate you Randall, and I'm lucky to have such a hard-working, dedicated husband.

(Here he is sanding. I couldn't get a good picture because there was too much dust in the air. I will be purchasing some protective eye glasses and dust masks for tomorrow!)

A True Labor Day

2008-09-01T20:46:00.006-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Lucky for us, this weekend we got to see my brother and sister-in-law and my beautiful niece and nephew! They came by to check out the house and to see what we had done so far. Reese liked "Aunt Randall's" house! :)

This morning the guys went to work taping and bedding out the walls, getting them ready to texture...still a long way to go!

I thought my dad would like a chance to reminisce about his old days in the union.

And I'll leave you with this- a picture of what our master bathroom shower currently looks like. So tonight when you take your shower...take a moment to notice and appreciate the nice walls it has!

dresses & desserts

2008-08-24T22:44:00.005-05:00

This weekend Randall and his dad worked on our house. I, however, was told that it was "guy stuff" and that I wouldn't be much help over there. SO.... I spent the weekend doing "girly" things like sewing, cleaning, and cooking (two of the three I enjoy)! I haven't sewed anything in about 5 years and even then it was just a simple blanket. Most of my sewing experience is made up of sewing vests, yes vests, when I was in the 3rd grade (I will try to dig up a picture of this). I never quite had enough patience for sewing, but I thought that I might now that I'm older. Also, I thought sewing would be fun because I have a few niece's that I would love to make little dresses for and I figure it will be good practice for when I have a daughter of my own! So this weekend my friend Meredith and I went to Joann's, picked out patterns, picked out fabric, and tried our hand at putting a few things together. I picked out a pattern for a cute little sun dress with a criss-cross back. I am still not quite done with it, but I think with a little more practice it will turn out pretty cute. No pictures yet of our sewing projects but here are some wipes cases that Meredith and I also made this week (I the smaller, and Meredith the larger one).

This weekend was our turn to host our church small group. I couldn't think of anything to make for dessert until I remembered this easy but delicious recipe that my Grandma makes. Fruit Pizza! Now, if you have not had the pleasure of tasting this treat you should try it. It's super easy as all it takes is a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese & sugar frosting, and fruit to top it off. This is a good summer recipe when fruit is at its best, and good for company because it's easy and fun to decorate

Lainey Jean Foster has arrived!

2008-08-20T11:11:00.008-05:00

Okay, I know in my last post I claimed we were going to "attack" the house this past weekend and get a lot done, but.............. something more important came up! Our niece, Lainey Jean Foster, decided it was time to make her appearance! We got the call at 3 a.m. Saturday morning that Randall's sister was in labor. So Randall, his parents, his sister and I all packed as quick as we could and headed up to Edmond, OK. We managed to make it there just before she gave birth. My sister-in-law asked if I wanted to be in the room when she had her. I said, "Yeah, but you better make it look easy so I'll still want to have a baby someday!" Well she sure made it look easy- she didn't even have to push! The nurses were trying to wait until the doctor arrived before they told her to push, but the doctor was late and Lainey just couldn't wait and came right out! The miracle of birth is amazing, and it reminds you of what an amazing God we have! We are so happy that mama and baby are both doing great!

The mess only worsens...

2008-08-15T00:26:00.003-05:00

Well things at the new Roseberry residence are only getting worse... Everything we are doing to the house right now only makes a bigger mess. I am ready to start putting things back together, but we still have some more "mess making" to do before things will start to look better. This week I am feeling like the final result is nowhere in sight. Randall has been working extra hours at work trying to close out a project and I just didn't have the strength to face the mess alone tonight. Don't worry, we have big plans to attack it this weekend!

POPCORN

2008-08-11T23:20:00.009-05:00

say goodbye

So almost all the popcorn has been scraped from the ceilings of our house. We are only lacking the kitchen and laundry room. What a MESS! In case you have not experienced the pleasure of scraping popcorn off ceilings, I will enlighten you: First you spray it down with a bug sprayer type thing until the ceiling is pretty saturated. Then you take a scraper, and scrape it off. If wet enough, it comes off quite easily because the popcorn when mixed with water turns to a kind of mud-paste that just sloughs off and drops to the floor. So the floor turns into a slippery obstacle course and then you throw in some ladders just for fun. Actually, it went quicker than I had expected and I didn't really mind doing it. However, I will not recommend that anyone do this while there is furniture in the house. We have not cleaned any of the mess up yet, and now that it has dried it looks like it snowed inside our house:

Thanks to our friend Meredith who wasn't afraid to get dirty and come help us! It's always more fun working with a friend!

demo day 1

2008-08-08T23:54:00.006-05:00

If you ever need to get some frustration out.... demo is the way to go! I was impressed at how fast it went and how much we got done. Randall, his dad, and friend Kevin ripped up all the laminate flooring and ripped down all the wood paneling throughout the house as well as knocking out a half wall, part of the shower, and part of the ceiling in the bathrooms. What did I do you might ask?........ I unscrewed and took off all the light switches and electric sockets (there are more of those than you might realize in a house until you start taking them all off!). Oh and I also made a Sonic run (very important). Well here are some pictures of the guys having fun:

as promised:

2008-08-08T15:27:00.013-05:00

Here are just a few pics of the house as we bought it. I have to say these pics don't look too bad, but in person all the surfaces are much dirtier than they appear here.

guest bath

master bedroom

master bath

shower

kitchen, lots of cabinets - yay!

dining room

front

Ugh!

2008-08-07T22:09:00.002-05:00

As soon as I find my camera cable there WILL be pictures of the house.

Welcome!

2008-08-06T23:47:00.003-05:00

Welcome to our blog! I must first post a disclaimer: I am not a writer and never have been, so please excuse any incorrect grammar. (Hopefully this blog will be filled with more pictures than words.) Also I have been told that I write extremely long sentences, so instead of taking time to correct this flaw, I will just let my thoughts freely flow here on the web without hindrance. With that out of the way I must also say that I am new to blogging and this blog will be a work in progress.... just like our NEW HOUSE! Now... when I say "new", I really mean built in 1982 but new to us. After a 3 month long ordeal, the wait is over, and we are official homeowners! Let the work begin!
The house is exactly what we were looking for. A fixer-upper in a good neighborhood with lots of potential for us to add our own personality into every inch of it! In the upcoming months I will keep you up to date with what project we are currently working on and how thing are coming along. Also, I love good advice, so if you experienced "remodelers" out there have any send it our way!
"Before" pictures coming soon!