We are so very thankful!!!

In the amount of time that I have, I simply cannot put into words our Thanksgiving weekend. However, we’ll load some pictures and give you the summary version.

First of all, the weather around here was incredible. It’s craziness for the end of November…shorts, T-shirts, open windows, people mowing grass???

Sherry’s brother and sister came down for the holiday weekend and helped us out a bunch with packing and moving. We enjoyed sleeping in and relaxing the better part of Thursday, although we did do some re-arranging to make room at the new house. Friday was spent with packing and chopping down a Christmas tree, and Saturday we started packing up the moving truck around 9 a.m. By noon we had everything in the new house, but it will take us weeks to get everything unpacked, re-hung, and back into the right storage places. TJ and Holly headed back to school after church yesterday, and Sherry and I were able to get some things put away and hang some Christmas decorations.

Anyway, we were blessed with great weather and lots of help. Enjoy the pictures and thanks to all those who helped out sooooo much this weekend. More later…

SCRAMBLING !!!!!!!!!!!!

The scramble is on…we’re fixing leaks, touching up, re-arranging, making last minute purchases, and trying to get the necessities taken care of so that we may move this weekend. We finally made a call on the living room furniture and will be having it delivered on Friday.

So…it’s pictures you want, huh? Must mean that my stories are getting too long-winded?!?!?! Oh well, posting pictures is sooooo much faster anyway. We’ll snap some new ones tonight. In the meantime, this is the sectional that we bought a couple of yesterday.

Too busy to write!!

We wanted to update you with some pictures. We got all the shelving up in the closet - it is hard to get a good angle with the camera but it looks really cool and is TONS of storage space. We were able to get the bathroom all done except for removing grout from the tiles :( and doing some small touch up stuff like mounting towel hangers and the toilet paper holder.

Rain! Rain! Go Away!

Is anybody else sick of this weather? I’ll take snow, hail, sleet (even sunshine)…anything but this rain. I guess it’s good for getting work done inside, though…which we are doing slowly but surely.

I spent the entire day tiling our shower on Saturday while Sherry got a good start on all the painting. She put the final coat of paint on and grouted the shower last night. We also got the concrete countertop (vanity) in place this week, and I got the sinks and faucets are set last night (thanks to my awesome wife taking on the grouting chore). On Sunday we made another trip to Chi-town with some friends, were moved by Dr. Stowell’s message at Harvest Chapel, and made our closet organizer purchases (among a few others) at IKEA. So…with the exception of the trim, re-routing the electrical, and cleaning up the grout in the newly tiled shower, we’ll hopefully be wrapping up the bedroom area tonight. Hmmm…tonight’s list:
-Modify vanity drawers to clear sink drains
-Set toilet
-Install plate covers
-Relocate the bedroom workshop
-Clean floors (the mess that drywall leaves behind…YUCK!!!)
-Assemble and clean bathroom storage cabinet
-Install closet organizer, shelving
-Fasten wall lighting in bathroom and closet

Somewhere in there we’re going to have to eat and watch Survivor. But, Lord willing, we’ll have “The Bedroom Morph” pictures posted tomorrow.

Continued Top 10 list

10) When driving down the road, you instinctively pull into the hardware store only to realize in the parking lot that you didn’t actually need anything this time (I actually did this)

9) When getting a pedicure at the most expensive salon in town, you request polish that matches the bedroom paint (just in case you splatter while touching up, I guess)

8-2) We’ll just keep adding them on

1) You hear your wife say “Baby, I really like this drill.”



Keep your eyes peeled. We’ll hopefully have some new pictures yet this week of the bedroom, bathroom, and closet. We’re getting closer to crunch time.

What a Mix of Emotions......

This week I actually heard my wife say, “I have a new best friend.” We’ve only been married a little over 10 months, and I’ve already been replaced!!! It’s sad, really, it is. But, I guess that’s what happens when you shoot somebody with a nail gun.

Here’s the story: Sherry and I have decided that we’re both quite capable of doing a less than adequate job of finishing drywall. Neither of us can say that we enjoy making a mess of it and really only look forward to covering all the imperfections with paint. And last weekend were there…two coats of the joint compound and a bit of sanding and we were ready to cover it all up. In comes Tom…some of you have heard of Tom. Tom is our neighbor across the street, and we simply thought his job was to oversee the compound, fry up turtle on occasion, and take fishing trips. Come to find out, Tom is a professional drywaller. Well, the short version is that he has shown us mercy and is finishing the drywall for us in the bedroom area. To us, he is amazing. To him, it’s just what he does. So, really, I think Sherry is just thankful that she doesn’t have to deal with the drywall anymore. I don’t think Sherry truly has replaced me with a new best friend, but it’s ok…we’ll get it all worked out with a few months of counseling.

So from one of saddest things I’ve heard from my wife to one of the most joyous things I’ve heard from her: Last night we were at my workplace pouring the concrete top that will be our vanity top. We also decided to refinish a couple of the desks and a dresser that will be the actual vanity. So, Sherry is taking the handles off of the drawers so that we can repaint them when I heard the sweetest sound from across the warehouse. There are a number of things that I’ve come to love to hear from my wife…”I love you,” “you’re the best,” “let’s go out to eat tonight” among MANY others…but this was different. Those of you who know my wife well will appreciate this. From across the warehouse I hear Sherry say, “Baby, I really like this drill.” What? Are you kidding? Did I just hear my wife say, “I really like this drill?” Now mind you, this is a very nice DeWalt cordless drill, but…come on. So, I’ve realized two things:
1) Christmas and anniversary shopping just got a whole easier and
2) We’ve been working too hard or too long on this project.

Actually, I told Sherry the other day that I’m going to start making a “Top 10” list of ways to know when you’ve been working too hard on a home renovation.
10) When driving down the road, you instinctively pull into the hardware store only to realize in the parking lot that you didn’t actually need anything this time.
1) You hear your wife say “Baby, I really like this drill.”

I’ll fill in numbers 9-2 as we keep going. BTW, did anybody else know that latex paint and paint thinner make cottage cheese? Black latex paint and paint thinner makes something similar to what’s in the Tupperware container that’s been in the back of the fridge so long that nobody remembers what’s in it or has the guts to open it and find out. FYI, I’ll be repainting tonight.

I Married MacGyver

I watched MacGyver as a young girl and LOVED him. I thought he was amazing and of course believed he could make a bomb out of a paperclip and a piece of gum. I like most girls at the time had a slight crush on him. Looking back, I am not sure he had the mullet going on in the show - I am sure he couldn't have :) Anyways, I have realized that I have married MacGyver. Yup! It is true! Last night we were heading out the house about 5:30pm and Troy realized he had forgotten to set the VCR to tape Survivor at 8pm. Well, if you know my husband, you know he really enjoys his survivor. He suggested turning back to do - to which I suggested calling Shane and Christine to see if they could tape it. He was ok with that, but would still have to wait until the next day to watch it. Obviously, not his favorite option, so he mentioned making an antenna to get the channel. I admit it! I laughed out loud! He said - "What do you know have any faith in me that I can do that!" I did tell him if anyone could it would be him. Well sure enough as soon as we got out to the house he started finding parts and wires and boxes and I just watched in wonder. He finally got it all how he wanted it and if you look closely in the picture you can see where the "ANTENNA" is hanging over the lights. We started flipping through channels and we didn't just get one channel fuzzy - we got 5 fuzzy channels and 1 PERFECTLY CLEAR channel 18 (the Survivor channel). So, James Dean Anderson move over my hubbie is MY MACGYVER and alot better looking I must add. So thanks Baby, for working so hard and always making things so much fun! I love you so very much.

OUR BEDROOM

The bedroom areas are coming along. I think we actually made better progress this past weekend than either of us thought we would. It’s not without some bumps and bruises, though. Here’s the price of doing a bathroom and closet yourself:

Right hand – drill bit in the knuckle
Left hand – hammer to the ring finger (the blood under the nail makes it look like I got one finger manicured for Halloween…cute look)
Left hand – slice to middle finger from electrical box
Left hand – falling sheet of drywall pinches index finger
Left hand – same hammer smack dab on the top of hand (there’s a pattern here…must be a bad hammer)

It’s tough for me to complain, though, after shooting Sherry with pneumatic nail gun. OUCH!!! That one scared us both pretty good. Good thing we’ve both updated our Tetnus shots this year.

So we’re back out there tonight with high hopes of getting a step closer to being done with the drywall finishing and having some running water. Hmmm…what’s the worst that can happen with running water and no drains yet?!?!? Might want to pray that we don’t drown.