Thank The Lord for Home Warranties

Upon entering the house this morning, I smelled something burned. I couldn't find the source of the smell at first, but then I saw the hot water heater. It's a wonder our house didn't burn down! The plumber said if the door had been on that closet where the water heat is (we removed it for tiling) it most likely would have set the house on fire. Wouldn't that have been something. All this work and a lot of our stuff freshly moved over and then it burns down. Wow.

Anyway, the plumber is already there doing his thing. They'll put in a brand new one tomorrow and all for just the $60 fee the warranty company charges. Sweet.

Who Knew?

A ventahood (is that how that's spelled???) has to actually vent somewhere. Really? The previous owner's must not have known that since there was no venting route in place. And since there was no venting route in place, we, of course, never even thought about it.

Until yesterday.

Our kitchen is all but complete and we were just in there to talk about installing the appliances. That's when the vent bomb was dropped. Bleh. Now we have to cut through the cabinet over the microwave, cut a hole in the ceiling, and run a venting duct through the attic. We may even have to take down a section of cabinets to do the job and then put them back up. You can insert any exclamatory remark filled with frustration and annoyance HERE.

I Stink

I had great hopes of what this blog would be, but the honest truth is that I can only do so much. I figure I should probably keep feeding my kids and occasionally dressing them, and every once in a while I need to sleep an hour or two. The only thing I can cut out some is blogging. =(

I'm kind of bummed and kind of excited all at once because we started moving our stuff over today (the good part), yet not everything is done yet (the bummer part). Things will get finished this week but due to several different factors, we needed to go ahead and move a lot of things over. We put a lot of it in the garage (the carpet isn't in yet) and only some in the house on the tile. It was SO thrilling to see my things that have been in a lonely storage room for over a year, but it's frustrating that 1) I didn't get pictures of everything all finished before stuff was brought in, and 2) I didn't get to clean everything before stuff was brought in. I'll definitely have to mop a number of times to get the floors good and clean. I wish I had a Shark Steam Mop!

All of this to say that pictures will be posted, just not yet. We're going to be crazy busy finishing everything and moving in this week and then we're going to Colorado for the rest of the year. I can't wait to post an awesome before and after picture full post!

And don't let me forget to share my cabinet staining fiasco! I'm going to have to blame it on Kablot, I think, due to her down right frightening warning of a comment about my body now being poisoned with toxins! ;) It sure feels good to have someone else to blame for your mistakes. Thanks, Kablot!

My body is screaming for bed after a very long day of church (complete with curling both girls' hair this morning - about a 45 minute job, working in the preschool class, and then the preschool Christmas program, and touching little boy pee when a 4 year old wet his pants), lunch, trying to edit John's paper for school (I fell asleep trying), moving lots of heavy boxes (some of them up the ladder and into the attic), overseeing the completion of a 2nd grade school project (no small thing if you've met his teacher!), and getting all tired and cranky children into bed. Good night!

a VERY helpful hint I wish I had known before....

I stained cabinets for the first time tonight. I've been dreading this task because I was terrified of messing these custom made beauties up. The blood was flowing through my veins pretty fast when I sat down in the bathroom to get started (staining that is). I thought about it, I prayed about it, and I repositioned myself a half a dozen times. Finally, when I could put it off no longer, I began.

One rule to remember, which I knew, is to always start your staining job at the back of the cabinet. The reasoning for this is just less mess as you lean in. I did a great job following this rule.

Another rule to remember is to never stir your stain midway through your project. This could result in an uneven finish on your wood. I was good at following this rule too. Stir it once and put the stick in the trash. I can handle it.

But this last rule is one that nobody bothered to share with me - probably because it's just so obvious. When you are going to stain something, anything, wear gloves! This is especially important when you are using a rag to stain and not a brush. I did not know this was a good idea until it was too late, and by that time by hands were already well on their way to turning a very dark brownish black.

I can now tell you some things that do NOT get stain off your hands:

dish soap
lemon juice
bleach
ammonia
sos pad
boiling water
flaming fire

Ok, I didn't try everything single thing in that list, but nonetheless, those things don't work. If you are a dodo like me and happen to get stain all over your hands, then you better pray to God Almighty that you have some vegetable oil in your house, because that's all that's getting that nasty, sticky stuff off!

The cabinets are looking great though, so I guess it's worth it.

Pictures. Tomorrow. On it.

I Owe You

I know I owe you soooo many pictures and I really do keep meaning to get them! The problem is that I'm too stinking busy doing all the work to take pictures of the work that is happening. I can tell you about some of the things that have happened, but that's kind of boring I know. Hmmm....How about I tell you now and then add the pictures very soon. (I promise, very soon.)

• baseboards are all in and painted
• all painting is done, save a few touch up places
• master bath is done except for staining the cabinets
• outside trim is about halfway done and we changed our color choice - I love it!
• new bedroom door and closet door are installed

And this week the following things are happening:

• ceiling fans and lighting fixtures installed
• final electrical work done (I hope it's the final work anyway)
• carpet gets installed
• granite goes in
• kitchen back splash is done
• fireplace is tiled (mantel will probably come a little later)

See? I told you I owe you pictures! We've got a marathon work week looming over us right now though. Sorry! =)

Painter's Neck

I'm not sure if that's an actual term, but I've got it. It's caused by painting ceilings and it's not fun (the neck and the painting both). The good news is that other than a few places that need a touch up, the painting is done! (Ok, that's not including the base boards either but they are almost done too!) I can't begin to describe my elation - imagine the elation level once it is actually, totally, completely done. To think that in two weeks we will be sleeping in that house with our own furniture, well, that's just unimaginable right now (which is unfortunate because it MUST happen). Our deadline is firmly in place:

• December 14th - all the guys go to the Cowboy game (no drooling please)
• December 15th - carpet installed (this is tentative as I have to make sure the installers are good to go for that day, but it shouldn't be a problem)
• December 16th, 17th, 18th - move in and unpack
• December 19th - John David's Christmas party at school (remember, I'm Marge)
• December 20th, 21st - Christmas with John's family
• December 21st - fly out to Denver for Christmas with my family
• December 22nd, 23rd - packers and movers arrive and Clay and Sandy's house to move everything that's left to go to Tulsa (that's why we have to be moved!)
  

Surprisingly, I'm keeping my cool pretty well, I think. Mostly anyway. ;)

Someone Call the Trophy Shop Please

Seriously, because I soooo deserve the dodo award. I'm so annoyed with myself! I have painted bedrooms 2-4 count it.....one....two.....THREE TIMES!

But that's not the worst part. After three times, it's still NOT the right color. And do you know what color I will probably use? The color I painted it the first time around. I told you I deserve the dodo award. It's really no wonder that the painting will never end. I'm way too wishy washy on my color choices.

In case you're curious....

Round One: Nomadic Desert (same color as the living room and kitchen)

Round Two: Dove White (a very creamy off white that just ended up looking way too blah)

Round Three: Tea and Biscuits (supposed to just be a lighter version of what's in the living room and kitchen but ended up with a freakishly orange hue)

Sigh......

So now everyone knows why the posts here have not been too frequent. I've been grunt slaving around with the paint roller on a never ending quest to find the perfect color. How wonderfully frustrating.

The Light

I can see it! The light at the end of the tunnel, that is. There's still so much to be done, but everything is really coming together. I'm dying to post pictures of what the master bath looks like right now, but a) I don't have time, and b) any pictures I took right now wouldn't be good anyway because it's too dim as the light fixtures aren't all in yet.

We're taking a few days off to spend some time in Dallas (yea!), but then it's back to grunt slaving around......

Lesson of the Day

If you're going to get new doors, you should paint them before installing the hardware.

Having...Heart....Attack.....

I just paid for the granite. That is all....

Hall Bath

The babies are in Tulsa this week (I will not cry, I will not cry) and John David was at school, so I just had Julia with me. We spread out a blanket and took a bunch of things to do. She played on the blanket for several hours while I painted trim.

This is the doorway from the hall into the bathroom. It's not grouted yet, but isn't it pretty?

This is the shower for the hall bathroom. I really like the way it came out and I'm totally wishing I had used those stones in the master! I didn't want them to look the same though....

Master Bathroom

The master bathroom is coming along - finally. They worked a lot more after these pictures were taken but this what I have for now.

Has anyone else noticed that blogger now inserts pictures in opposite order than it used to? Totally annoying because you have to think backwards!

Moving right along.....

This is the (ugly) view from the outside of the bathroom (remember there's a door in there that leads out to this patio area?). The window that was there just had to go and we're replacing it with a glass block window. The bricks that were there were apparently very loose and will now have to be set back in (at our expense I'm sure). I know it wasn't our contractor's fault because the bricks beside the new back door were the same way, according to the door installer.

I know all you can see when you look at this is a big mess, but I see candles and bubbles and a very relaxed La who is no longer remodeling a house.

Here's the shower. I have been very torn over those little square stones ever since they first put them in. They look blueish to me which, as John pointed out, is clearly because of the blue colored spacers. But still. I'm just not certain about them.

Go ahead and say it, Johnny. "I told you so." John wanted me to use "Noce" pencil tiles as a border around, but I was concerned about the lack of color interest since the Noce tiles were the same color as everything else. I thought the squares would be a nice break. The floor of the shower will be all of these tiny squares too. (I changed my mind from the picture I posted earlier of the floor tiles.)

Would you think I was crazy if I went in and ripped out the squares and replaced them with the Noce tiles? They're the same size so it probably wouldn't be hard. Crud. Why can't I ever make the right decision the first time???

It Takes a Certain Kind....

....of personality that is. Or at least someone who can play the part. In this business (look at me - I said that as if flipping is my "business" - how cute!), everyone is out to get the most money they can for the least amount of effort and if you're not tough, they'll try to screw you over. I learned this lesson today as I had to put on my big girl pants and get a little mean.

I'm so not a hard person to deal with (am I?) and I'm super nice normally. I talk to our workers and today I had even taken them a couple dozen cookies from a bakery I had gone to. I'm pretty sure they like me, but they still try to get by with stuff.

I spent two hours today (that sounds totally ignorant now, but trust me) tracking down the soap ledges for the showers. The kind of ledges that are tiled over so they match your shower. My "guy" told me they would be at Lowe's or Home Depot, either one. Strike one. Strike two.

Next I followed the tip of the (seemingly quite knowledgeable) man from Lowe's and went to the big plumbing supply place. In retrospect, I should have called first to check, but I was quite sure they would have it. They didn't. Strike three.

At this point, I called our "guy" and asked him where in the world I was supposed to find this thing. He was no help. Grrrr...

The man at the plumbing place suggested somewhere else he was quite positive would have them. Thankfully, he was right and I left that store with my ledges in hand.

I delivered the ledges to the Piece and went on to the granite warehouse where I received a call from our "guy". He said those weren't the kind of ledges he needed and this kind was going to take much longer to put in and cost way more labor. According to him, he and John had never discussed using these and now the dura-rock was already put in and he didn't want to have to tear it out. I kindly told him that was indeed the kind he told me to get and that I had spent TWO hours to find those ledges and that was the kind he needed to put in. I ended up going to the Piece in person and, well, let's just say that I will have my ledges.

I don't enjoy being mean, but I can put it on. So in an effort to finish this house before the 30 year mortgage is up, I'm going to start wearing my mean pants. Well, maybe. I'll try anyway. I'm just such a nice person. Sigh......

November 12th

The tile is done now and will be grouted tomorrow. It's amazing how much farther along everything seems with the floors done. (Well, we still have to lay carpet, but that's last, it's quick, and it's not messy.) Here's part of the kitchen design. They wanted to do just a straight square design throughout, but I insisted on some various diamond patterns. It just looks so much better! So although the tile could have been done a couple of days ago, I think it's very well worth the wait (and the extra money!).

You win. Here's a picture of one part of one side of the kitchen. This was taken from near the bar. It will be a couple more weeks before we get the granite counters and after that we'll still have to do the tile back splash.

In other news, we've been given the victory over the ugly green linoleum floor. It was a hard fought battle indeed.

Our appliances are ready to be installed! Any takers? (on the installing, not the appliances themselves.) I always have wanted an over the range microwave to call my own. [insert dramatic princess sigh here]

Check out this bad boy of a stainless steel stud muffin!

There's a dishwasher too, but he's in his box so that's no fun. (Notice I referred to the dishwasher as a "he". Obviously, that is not inspired by real life.)

Time Spent Thinking Instead of Working

If you've ever been shopping with multiple kids, then you know how hard it can be to make decisions (good ones anyway) when you are simultaneously feeding someone goldfish and wiping something brown from someone else's hands that you can only hope is chocolate.

So while I like to busy myself painting or working at our house while all kids are in school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, today I found it much more necessary to stroll through Lowe's thinking and choosing and comparing. And then on to another place.

While I did make some progress, in some ways I was even more overwhelmed when I left. I've learned that I have a difficult time seeing things in my head beforehand. For instance, the shower tiles. I can't design these things in my head - I really need to have a great big play shower that is magnetic and I can walk in and arrange and rearrange all the tiles (which would have to have magnets stuck to their backs) to my little heart's content. Whatever home improvement store implements that idea first is going to make a lot of money. Seriously.

Anyway, as I left I was in a give-up kind of mood. I was tired and obviously not too good at all this picking stuff out business. I prayed that God would send me to the right place and to the right people to help me figure things out.

Next thing I know, I had the good sense to call our cabinet maker to help us with our fireplace. (It is apparently much too large for any stock or even special order mantle.) He's coming over tomorrow to help me design something!

Then, I remembered a small place called Decorator's Outlet that I had driven by a million times but never thought about. I went in and there were two awesome women who helped me pick and choose from so many beautiful tiles and stones. I think we came up with a beautiful design - time will tell. =)

So, although I didn't get any work done at the house, I got a lot accomplished just by clearing my head and figuring things out. Now I guess I'm going to go catch up on some physical work while the kids snooze away. (Which is something to be thankful for after this.)

In Progress

The tile is still being completed as I type.
I took a few pictures on Saturday so it's further along by now.

This is the wall cabinet above the hall bath toilet. It's still unfinished since I have yet to decide on a stain color. The walls and ceiling are painted a green color. I've used green before in our last house, but this shade is the best so far. I'm considering repainting one of the bedrooms this color. Except then the painting will never end. Hmmm. Can't decide.....

New Doors

Hey, the internet is actually working right now! I'm going to post while I can before it goes out again! Knock on wood....

Here's the new front door, unpainted though it may be. We'll probably paint it the same color all the outside trim will be - a totally bold beige.

These were the old garage doors. While it was tempting to keep them, we decided to part with them in favor of some that weren't falling apart.

Like these! They'll look even better once all the trim is repaired and painted the same color. They are things of beauty though. John picked these out and I think he did good!

Right After Lunch!

I took pictures but have had no internet to post them (that's a whole different post). It's working again now but it's time to go to church......As soon as we're done with lunch they'll be up - as long as the internet hasn't gone out again!

How Could I Forget?

I have to admit that as I got dressed this morning, I flexed my muscles in the mirror. I was just positive they would be huge since yesterday I transported three pallets of boxed 18x18 tiles from the store to the Piece. Unless you have personally done this, you probably can't imagine just how much three pallets really is. Let me tell you - it's a lot!

Oh, and in case you were curious, yes, my muscles were indeed quite large looking.

No Pictures Still!

We have made some great progress, but can I show you? NO! Why? Because my camera charger is still missing. Whah. It's just near as interesting to tell you about it as it is to show pictures. I guess my mission for today should be to either find the charger or get a new one. Ughhh.

A few things to look forward to seeing would be:

• a new front door and back door (yet to be painted, but whatever)
• new garage doors
• the painted hall bathroom (I am in love with the color I used!)
• the tile laying in progress
• the master bath taking shape
• the color we used in the master room (can you guess what it is? If you know me you can.)

Hopefully, I'll get some pictures up by the end of the day. [fingers firmly crossed]

The Pressure is Too Much!

I do have a few pictures that are more interesting but they're sitting on my camera and getting them off would require way too much effort at this point, soooooo, I hope these will do. Just humor me and pretend to be interested.

Here's some of the things I bought that are currently sitting in a closet waiting to be installed. I think those are also my jeans sitting there. Wait a minute, maybe these picture are totally captivating, after all!

Here's the main tile we're using in the master bath. The small tiles are for the shower floor. I don't think I've shown this yet, or have I? Who knows. Anyway, I love those small tiles and can't wait to see them in the shower!

Holy Cow, I've Seen the Light!

I never, and I mean NEVER, want to paint with a roller and a brush again! I've learned to use a sprayer and geez louise, I've wasted half of my life painting when I could have had this contraption. I painted three bedrooms (walls and ceilings) in 15 minutes flat today and then moved on to paint another bedroom and bathroom. Granted, it's kind of a pain to clean the sprayer out when you're done or switching colors, but you're going to have to clean something up no matter how you paint. So please excuse me while I go continue my new love affair with the greatest invention ever.

While I'm here I might as well take the time to say that our entry doors and our garage doors are all being installed on Tuesday morning! What a difference that should make. Then, as soon as I can finish all the painting (I mostly have trim and base boards left at this point), our guys will be working to finish everything else. They're scheduled to be finishing up with most stuff next week. But like I said, it kind of hinges on me getting the painting done too. I'm thinking about going over there tonight since the kids are asleep, but I figure I do need to sleep at some point....

M is for Monday and Mowing

I mowed the knee high grass today. That is one stinkin' huge yard - especially when you're using a mower that is near death. It sputters non-stop like it's going to die and every so often it will just stop. Then you have to go get the huge gas can and lug it to wherever it stopped and fill it back to the rim. Then, if you're lucky, it will start again. Yep, it was fun. (I should mention too that I was power walking with that thing because I had to get it done quickly before it was time to get John David from school. Now that's a workout!)

Moving right along, tomorrow I'll be learning how to use a paint sprayer so the rest of the painting won't take the rest of my life. I'll let you know how that goes......

No, We Haven't Given Up

I'm sure you're probably thinking that we finally gave up on our miserable piece due to the lack of posting around here, but you would be wrong. Although I don't have pictures at the moment to prove anything, we are making progress. Slowly but surely.

• The bathroom cabinets were custom made and they are partly installed. They will be fully installed once the plumbing is reconfigured for a double sink. They're nice though and I'm glad I didn't go with just unfinished cabinets from Home Depot or Lowes. These cost a little more but I think we'll definitely see that money again. I need to choose a stain now.
  
• The painting has continued. Even though I don't particularly enjoy painting, I always love the huge difference it makes. It's just so dramatic!
  
• The master bathtub is in place. Now if we can just get our slow-poke plumber to come do his thing, we can get some more things rolling. A slow worker can really mess a time-line up. It's one big domino effect and a lot of times, you're just at these guys' mercy. Apparently, plumbers have no trouble finding plenty of work so I don't think they're too concerned about losing your business - hence, their total lack of regard for when you would like the job done. He keeps saying he's coming but then he doesn't. Why are we even still trying to use this guy????? Grrrrrrr.......

This week I'm very hopeful that our new doors will be installed, including the garage doors, the painting will be finished, granite counters will be ordered, and the master bathroom will be shaping up. We'll see though. My hopes do not always equal reality.

My biggest obstacle has been trying to get things done while taking care of my kids too. When we started this whole thing, we had grandparents living with us. That's not the case anymore. So even once the kids are in bed at night, I can't go over there and work like I had before. I will say that their great-grandmother has been a help though. She will often stay at our house while the babies are napping. That's a big help at least!

In closing, I would just like to point out that flipping is not for moms of little children. =)

Lest you think I've been slacking.....

My arms hurt. My shoulders and neck burn. Whah whah whah! I've been painting this week and as much as I love to paint, I'm ready to be done. The bad part is that I'm nowhere near done! It's so awesome to see how big of a difference paint makes though. It's very motivating to keep things going.

Now I'm going to reward myself for my hard work with a big glass of chocolate milk and a new episode of Law and Order SVU. All of this will take place in my bed, under my down comforter because it's in the 50's outside! Woohoo! Fall has arrived and La is one happy girl. =)

Along Came A Spider

A couple of nights ago John, Kara and I were at the Piece when John hollered out that there was a huge spider. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to grab my camera.

This thing was awful! Do you see its eyes glowing???
I think I need to use the red eye tool in my editing program on this bad boy! Yuck!

Clearly, he's looking at me.

We threw a penny down there for size reference. Aren't we smart?

After watching him for a little while it was time to kill him. John got the shovel and I got ready to video the execution. Check it out....



We finally found him on the floor a foot or two away. He must have fallen off of John's shoe. We discovered that the spider was a "he" not a "she" and all of her little babies were running wild. John quickly tried killing as many as he could, but they were fast. Eek! That's a lot of spiders growing up in that house!

This Past Week

Little by little, I'm beginning to see what it's all going to look like. I think we're finally getting to the fun (comparatively anyway) part. This past week was NOT fun. I spent my work time scraping floors (I still have the blisters and callouses on my hands to show for it) and John spent his work time crawling through the attic trying not to breathe in the insulation as he installed can lights and tried to figure out all the wiring. He's still not done with all of that, but he's at least a lot closer. We hope.

The biggest thing that's happened so far are the kitchen cabinets. They are SO beautiful! I'd love to show you a picture now, but I'm going to be mean and make you wait until the granite is installed and the sink and appliances are all in. They are so very, very lovely though. Sigh.

This picture is taken from the edge of the kitchen. That's the front door (which will soon be replaced) and that angled wall is for a picture and maybe a small entry way table. See the yellow cord hanging down? That's for an eyeball light to point at whatever is on the wall. This is one of my favorite things.

Here's some proof that I'm actually doing some work too, since so far I think I've only posted pictures of John working. We wouldn't want him to get all the credit, now would we? Notice the darker color on the ceiling - that's not due to a shadow or lighting. That's the original color we were going to go with in most of the house, walls and ceilings alike. I think I'll devote a future post to this topic alone, but suffice it to say that Walmart stinks at making paint and after a couple of time wasting trips, I headed over to Sherwin Williams to get some real paint. Some good paint. This is all still a sore subject so I won't delve into any further details at this time. The happy ending, however, is that we LOVE the color we ended up getting from Sherwin Williams. It's called "nomadic desert". Thanks to my fabulous sister Kara for meeting me at the store and helping me pick it out!

Here's Fernando's dad texturing the walls in the new room.

Somehow John David always ends up on the floor whenever we go to Home Depot or Lowe's. Silly boy. (That's Uncle Maka in the picture, not Daddy.)

I saved the most exciting picture for last. This one is of dirt. Yep, I said dirt. John is having to fill in all the low spots in the yard. I told you it was exciting.

I Accomplished the Impossible!

On Friday, I made so many calls to electricians, trying to schedule one to come sooner rather than later. Like I mentioned in the last post, we couldn't move forward with things until electrical stuff was done, we had a permit, and it was all approved by the inspector. Everyone I talked to said it would be at least a week or two before they could come out. I just kept calling.

Finally, I talked to an electrician who said he could come out on Tuesday or Wednesday. I talked him into coming Monday morning (today). So at 8:00 this morning I met him there and by the time school was out, the work was done, the permit was on the wall, and the approved box was checked. Woohoo!

Now tomorrow morning Fernando can start working again and the walls will soon be closed up. I've got to get the kitchen painted and dried before Wednesday evening when the cabinets will start going in. The guy we hired does it on the side so he'll work a few hours each night starting Wednesday and will be done by Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It's going to be so great to really get things going again.

My hands are blistered not from scraping more stupid linoleum today. I have mentioned that I hate that stuff, right? RIGHT? I even wore gloves. I got almost all of it up in the bathroom but the power was off in that part of the house because of the work being done so it was kind of dark. As I neared the toilet I was less than willing to get too close since I couldn't really see what I was doing. There were a few things back behind there that I couldn't quite make out so I decided to finish the job some other time. Call me squeamish, but I know those construction guys have been using that toilet. I'm quite positive because they bought a family size pack of toilet paper and put it in there.

I wish they had bought some air freshener too. =)

Permits Schermits

City permits are such a pain to have to deal with! I understand the necessity, but they are wreaking havoc on our time line.

And here's a tip for you: electricians are not generally readily available to come whenever you need them. Be prepared to wait a couple of weeks. Therein lies the problem with our permit issues. Our main construction guy won't/can't finish sheetrocking and completing his work until John's wiring work is complete. And in order for it to be complete, we have to have a licensed electrician get a permit and check off all of his work.

If we actually lived in the house already, this would all be a different story. But we don't live there - yet - so everything has to be inspected and given the okay before we can move in. I told John that he should just haul a mattress over there and sleep there one night so he can say he lives there! He didn't think that was a good idea.

Here's what needs to happen:

• electrician gets a permit and checks off John's work
• Fernando sees the permit and feels good about closing up all the walls since they've been checked
• Fernando's dad finishes fixing all walls and scraping the ceiling where we removed cabinets
  
• I paint the kitchen (where the cabinets and back splash won't be) and the bathrooms
• The paint dries
• Cabinet installation begins on Wednesday and continues through until Saturday

None of these things can be out of order. So you can see why getting an electrician out there right away is kind of crucial to things moving along. I finally found one who could be there at 8:00 Monday morning.

Have I mentioned that we aim to be done with the house (at least with all things inside) by the end of the month. Yep, we're crazy. That's what everyone tells us anyway. I guess we'll see.....

September 29th - Fan Shopping

Don't do it, John David. Don't do it......

Uh oh, you shouldn't have done that!

Daddy's big booty knocked him down!

Of all the fans to choose from, you would think we could find one we liked.

I like this one for the living room, but John thinks it looks like big airplane propellers. We ended up leaving the store without any fans. Boo. I want a fan!

Yea for Craigslist!

I've never used craigslist before since we didn't have one in SA, but I realized we had one here the other day. John suggested I list the double oven on there instead of just chunking it in the dumpster. I didn't really know if anyone would even want the thing, but craigslist is free so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. It only took a couple of minutes to list and within 12 hours I had an email from someone wanting it! Clay and I met them at our house at 5:00 and they paid me for it and put it in their truck. I listed it at $25 so it's not like I'm rich now, but hey, it's $25 I didn't have before! And I was just going to put it in the dumpster. I like this craigslist thing. =)

September 22 and September 26

There hasn't been much time between traveling for work, but John was working on the wiring this week. Here he is up above where the dining room will be.

I wasn't fast enough with my camera for this one - John had just thrown a big hammer down to Jake. I think Jake is happy to still be alive!

Awww, poor John. He got an "owies", as Aulora would sadly say.

Speaking of Aulora, here she is driving the orange cart at Home Depot.

Julia was not impressed at all to be at Home Depot again. It took some convincing to get her to smile for this picture. (Thanks to Davus and Biggie for the visa card that bought her new outfit from the "monster store".) That girl loves to shop! Just not at Home Depot.

Daddy had to figure out exactly what kind of thingy mabob we needed.

The problem with shopping with kids is that there isn't room in the basket for anything else!

Try to Contain Yourself

Things are getting boring around Flip This Piece - we sincerely apologize. Things are happening, but they're small, mundane things that nobody cares about. The wiring is almost done. Woo! The rocks are mostly gone from the front patio area. Yeehaw! The dumpster was emptied today. Hi ho cherrio! I took the kids to Home Depot (again) and paid for the appliances. Cool beans!

See I told you. Boring stuff. I'll try to bring more excitement your way later......

September 21

Today I worked on the piece while the babies were napping. My arms ache from scraping all of the kitchen floor.

I HATE LINOLEUM!

Ok, I got that out of my system. I fee better now.

Anyway, I scraped the floor, went to the hardware store to get a few things, dug up the ugly border along the front sidewalk (with some help from Jake who is apparently a much better border-digger-upper!), swept, and started scraping the bathroom floor, but the linoleum in there was so stuck that it broke my scraper! It was around that time that I screamed out in frustration that I hated linoleum. I wonder if the neighbors heard? =) hahaha

When we got back from the store, I walked in the house and started shrieking because there was a big black bird flapping around in there! It kept ramming into the windows and just couldn't find its way out. Jake finally managed to shoo him out the back door. Too funny. I only wish I could have videoed it!

Oh, we also hauled the dishwasher out by the curb. I really hope it's gone in the morning. Surely somebody wants an old, ugly dishwasher that probably, maybe works. Surely......

I have to say.....

in every picture of the front of the piece, I just want to reach in and pull out that goofy looking white globe on the front brick column thing. It IS going to be gone one day - just in case any of you were feeling the same way.

There. Now I can go to sleep.....

The Brady Kitchen is No More

Isn't it beautiful? I mean really, don't you think we increased the value of the house by thousands of dollars just by removing the yellow and dark brown Brady kitchen? I don't know if I can stand waiting for the new cabinets to come in. Two more weeks I have to wait. TWO! As busy as I've been though, I suppose it doesn't even matter. It may as well be two days 'cause that's how fast it will seem.

Would anyone like a free double oven or dishwasher?

Or a stove?

Moving right along.......

The sprinkler system is done! Well, except for that one stupid spot where I took the picture, I guess. We haven't covered that pipe yet because there's a tree root in the way, making it hard to dig the little trench. But we will prevail!

The Back Porch

Now you see it

Now you don't!

The screened in porch had to go since it was all rotted out. I doubt that we'll rebuild another one. I think it would look good swept off with some rocking chairs. Wouldn't it be nice to sit there, rocking away while shelling some peas for dinner? Or snapping green beans. Either one, as long as I get to rock on my nice porch. =)