Bumpersticker of the Day*

C'mon, gimme the finger

LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

*Seen by my friend Rachel in VA

Seen While Driving

All I can say is Asheville in Unique. I saw this car while driving down the street in the middle of the day. It has no signs on it, they wasn't advertising anything... it was just like that. In case you can't tell, it is a blow up shark on the top.

Bumpersticker of the Day

Despite the High Cost of Living

It Still Remains Popular

Inside Pics :)

So you wanted to see the inside... here it is. :) Here is the dining room. You can see the beautiful trim that we put up, we did the window, chair rail & baseboard. (After 2 hours of attemping the crown we finally had someone else do it... and he told us that the one price we did put up was wrong. :-P) The whole house is painted the same way, white ceiling and trim with antique white walls. I am going to go back later and paint the kitchen and the bottom part of the dining room and maybe a few other rooms... but this will be great for now. :) You can even kinda see the hardwood floors. We are having them finished next week.

And here is a picture of our beautiful tile. Aren't my husband and brother amazing? It has not been cleaned or grouted yet, but it is beautiful all the same. In this picture I am standing in the kitchen, the threshold is between the kitchen and hall, and to the left is between the hall and laundry room. The threshold pieces are made up of lighter tile in the same "tile family." For not too much work or extra cost it adds a lot. :)

Almost, But Not Quite...

And here is the most recent picture of the house. This is as far as the siders could get before they ran out of siding AND they need a 60' (40 wasn't good enough) latter to finish the chimney. :-P You can't tell, but the inside of the house is almost painted they will finish up on Monday, then you will have pictures of the doors we hung and trim we nailed up... all I can say is Praise the Lord for Caulk!!

Well, not terribly exciting, but here is the oh-so-necessary septic tank. :) 

Here is a picture of our septic drain field... and more importantly our back yard. What a blessing that they had to clean it out for us!! That is 500 fewer pounds of poison ivy that I need to worry about. :) 

Check

Sorry for the halt in posts. Life has been a little crazy, and the moments when I am not going I am sleeping. :) Here has been my thought process over the last few days.

Order Doorknobs: Check
RSVP for Friday night High School Fellowship: Crud!
Work: Check
Line Up Attic Insulation: Check
Install interior doors: Check
Put Up Baseboard, Chair Rail & Crown Molding: Check, Check, Check
Replace Broken Finish Nailer: Next Week!
Clean new house: AHHHHHHH
Order Carpet: Check
Confirm Cabinet Installation Day: Check
Line-Up Hardwood Finishing: Call Again When He Is Back In Town
Finish Spreadsheet for Work: Check
High School Fellowship: Check
Mini Golf after HS Fellowship: Check
Gather RSVP's for Company Picnic: Check
Confirm Menu for Picnic: Check
Make Dinner: Fast Food will do.
Clean old house: AHHHHHH
Pick Up Doorknobs: Check
Work Meeting: Check
Septic Tank In: Check
Buy Mirrors for Bathrooms: 1 down, 3 to go.
Line Up Gutters: Check
Apply for Passport: Check
Line Up Siding Guys to Finish: Check
Order Shutters: Check
Get Husband to Apply for Passport: Check
Move Garage Door Installation to Monday: Check
Line Up Painters: Check
Call About Tile Grout: Oops!
Line Up Loan Closing: Check (after 3 phone calls).
Pay for Driveway Concrete: AHHH! ( I got there and hour and a half late, only to find out they had a credit card on file, and THEN (3 days later) found out that is wasn't my credit card, it was my brother-in-law's. :-P)
Pick of Japanese Maple: Check
Sleep: Who needs sleep?
Meet with Appraiser: Check
Pack: 15 boxes done!!
Meet with Plumber to Figure Out Why the Tub Still Rocks: Tomorrow
RSVP for HS Fellowship: CRUD!!!

L

Bumpersticker of the Day

HORN BROKE

Watch for Finger

Seeing the Sights!!

Ok, well not so much since their isn't so much to see (at least in the "sights" area) in southern MO in the middle of August... but I will be able to see all of my family, watch my brother graduate from boot camp and meet my (other) brother's girlfriend and see a friend from childhood that I haven't see in years!!!

Tickets are confirmed, Drew, Ryan & I will be flying to MO Aug 16th and returning the 20th.

WOHOO!!

L

P.S. This trip was sponsored by American Express and our house building endeavor... because of them Drew, Ryan & I can all fly for free. :)

Rejoice or Cry?

On Day 1092...

2 Boxes Packed.

300 more to go.

L

Think On This...

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about my sense of security, where I place it (my house, money, my husband, national defense etc... the list could go on and on) and how it should remain completely and totally in Christ... so when I came across this statement it really hit me... think on it for a while:

Safety and Security is not the absence of Danger

It is the Presence of Jesus

~Female Missionary to Prisoners in Columbia

Gettin' Closer

Here is the house as of Sunday night. You can see they have started the siding... (they had to start on the back, but they have wrapped a little around the front) the driveway is in, and the front walk (Ryan is standing near the flower bed where the weeping Japanese Maple I just bought is going to go!!) and the hand rail and posts are up on my OH-SO-CUTE front porch!!! L

Bumpersticker of the Day

We Have Enough Youth

Now We Need A Fountain of Smart

Vacuum Questions...

I need advise!!

Has anyone bought a vacuum recently? Do you like the one you have? The one we have is about to die at any moment, and after using it your ears ring for the next two hours it is so loud. We are going to have berber carpet, has anyone else heard that you can't use a vacuum with a beater brush (that it negates the warranty or something)? Anyway, if you know of a vacuum or have a vacuum that you love and/or have berber carpet leave me a comment and let me know what you have! (No, I don't have the money for a rainbow etc... we are going to good & reasonably priced :). Thank you in advance for your help!

L

Bumpersticker of the Day*

Would Someone Please Poke Some Holes In The Top Of My Jar!

*Seen by my mother

Dysfunctionally Tired

I haven't been this tired since my college days. Have you ever been so tired that all you can do is stare? When you are ready for bed 5 minutes after you get up? It has been a long few days, with work during the day and then working on our house at night. Friday afternoon in a meeting (no, you should NEVER have a meeting after noon on Friday) all I could do was stare at the man who was speaking. (Granted it was about water filters and toilets, so even completely awake it is hard to come up with intelligent questions). I was afraid to speak because I knew that nothing but nonsense would come out if I spoke. They probably thought I was an idiot. A mute idiot.

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have not been able to work on our house... it has been a glorious three days of rest. We have seen a Pirates II, sat on the couch, talked with friends and gone to bed early!!! It was still a full weekend with a birthday party, high school fellowship, a yard sale and cleaning the house... but it was a restful busy.

Tomorrow marks the end of our rest for another week. We start trim tomorrow night and Lord willing will be done by next Sunday before midnight. :) Then it is just cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, packing and moving. :)

L

Bumpersticker of the Day

Your Honor Student is Just a Pawn

In My Chihuahua's Plan for Total World Domination

DIRT & FLOORS!!

So here is the house as of Tuesday morning. The biggest change is obviously the dirt, you can actually walk up to the house now without risking your life on some make-shift plank. It was a long but productive weekend. Between Friday morning and Tuesday evening we put in 58 hours of work. We layed over 600 square feet of hardwood and almost the same amount of tile. Only the grout and a few tiles on the master tub are left to do this weekend. And then we start trim!

FRIDAY

Ahh Ditra... Friday afternoon and evening we spent cleaning up in preparation for everything and putting down Ditra. It is basically platic waffle board that goes under the tile. :)

SATURDAY

Here is our Hardwood Laying Maniac. He laid 600 square feet of tile in less than 2 days (not to mention all the tile he helped with as well).

Here is a picture of the hardwood we layed on Saturday, you can't see them, but the living room to the right, and the dining room to the left have hardwood as well. The picture is taken from the front door. 

Here are the boys laying tile in the kitchen... this picture was taken at 2am Sunday morning.  

SUNDAY

We finished laying the floor tile, only the grout remains to be done. :) I love 18" tile, although it is a bear to cut! (It may not have been if we had a tile saw that was big enough, but we only had one made for 13" tile).

Sunday we finished laying the hardwood, Isn't it beautiful!!  

MONDAY

This is the first, and hopefully the last time you will see these two boys in the tub together. Monday was wall tile day.

Filling in the MOAT! After much thought and consideration, we opted for dirt instead of aligators for our moat. It took more than 20 loads to fill in the 8 foot pit between the road and the house. It looks great, but now any only person can walk up to the house... before the faint of heart would never have made it. The moat was a great security system while it lasted. :) 

TUESDAY

By Tuesday we were all a little loopy, exhausted and in need of a little comic relief. Here is Ryan showing off his amazing tile cutting skills. His head is where the toilet sits. :)

We finished the shower surround and the floor tile. All that is left is grout. (The orange is where the cabinets will be).  

We worked on the Master shower as well, but weren't able to complete it because we ran out of mud and time. :) Check out Ryan's ingenious ventilation system. :-P And his socks and shoes were wet because he went walking in the down-pouring rain.

Other than cleaning, the deck is complete!! (Sarah, you can now come and visit.)