Okay, so we had a little hiccup in the installation tonight. We didn't measure quite right for the lazy susan so we're going to have to take one of our cabinets out of the equation. When we finally decided where the tall cabinet would go we discovered we (and by we, I mean Don) will have to relocate the light switch to a different wall. But, the good news is that we are that far ahead of the game for step 3 (the other side of the kitchen) with the already purchase of a cabinet. So these pictures are so you can get the gist of what it will look like when we move everything around, just imagine all the counter is there. I am way excited. Remember, step 2 will be the top cabinets in about a year. Yeah! (I'm so tempted to do a before and after picture, but I will wait until step 1 is complete).

Baby Steps

Yeah! Don taped and mudded. Then I had to pick a color to paint our kitchen. I have lived in apartments for the last 8-9 years I have dreamed of painting walls amazing colors. I had this HUGH swatch thingy-magigy in front of me. I put it next to the counters and the cabinets and I total wimped out. I could not find a color. So, here is my tan with a hint of peachish color on the wall. I told myself that once we lived there a bit and I got more daring I could repaint! ( Don is gonna try to install the cabinets and counters Wednesday night, so more updates to come!)

I will say that I got a sample of 'Mulled Spice' paint for the dining room! Well I plan to only paint 1/4 of the room and the other 3/4 of the wall will be Ochre. Baby Steps.

HUNGER STRIKE!!!

Holly has not been eating her food lately. I have had enough. So I started saving her untouched waffles or 2 spoon eaten cereal for lunch time. Sunday night she decided she wasn't going to eat dinner. I warned her it would be her breakfast if she didn't eat it. It has no made an appearance for breakfast, lunch and snack and will be her dinner tonight! Until further notice Holland Mae Trumble is on a Hunger strike! (Don't worry she still gets milk for breakfast and water the rest of the day, hungery not thirsty)

Floor Demo

So the deodorizing didn't work downstairs. So, we decided to pull up the floor, sand it down, and paint it with Kilz or Kiltz or some primer that seals in odors. It is my job to demo it. This Saturday the kids helped me. They got the loose ones and I did the rest. We did get stopped when the rain fall caused water to go under our garage door. (Welcome to home ownership!) Luckily Don got the irrigation ditch dug out further (with the claw of the hammer he dug it out) while I ran to Lowe's for sand bags. (Yes, I was pretty sad, Don says I was mad)But, I am feeling pretty proud of our work on Saturday. Don did a ton of electrical stuff. Stay tuned!

Josh's Art

This week in school Josh was studying the letter A. This is his version of an alligator walking on a road. He loves this dry erase board, my mother-in-law made it for our FHE use. Take notice of his lowercase A they are learning denilan (however you spell that) style at school.

Gold Stars

Okay, I am just going to be honest. I joined Weight Watchers. There I put it out there to the whole cyber void. I decided enough is enough and I want to recognize myself. I went to a meeting this week and they were talking about small accomplishments. The leader was saying that we have to be proud of ourselves for small goals (not just weight goals) along the way. Or when we get to that size or weight we won't be truly happy. So here are some gold stars for myself from Friday.
*I went walking and even some jogging with an extra child in my double stroller and I did some strength training after. (GOLD STAR)
* I didn't steal Joshes brownie (GOLD STAR)
*I drank more water (GOLD STAR)
* I went to the grocery store and only got the things really on sale, 6 containers of cleaning products for four dollars, and not all the other stuff I had coupons for going outside our budget (GOLD STAR)
*I took time out to play with my daughter when I just wanted to read (GOLD STAR).

What gold star items have you done for yourself. If you had a calendar and put a gold star on it for every item you did every day. I bet you would see a gold piece of paper by the end of the month. We are too hard on ourselves and don't give ourselves the "hey good job" as often as we should. Here's your GOLD STAR!

Rainbow

Sometime, last week or the week before we had a rainbow. It has been a while since I saw one. I was my way out hurring to a meeting, and walking to my car. I look down at a puddle and saw, what I thought was a reflection of a prysim. When I looked up to see what had caused it I saw a double rainbow in the sky. At that moment all other thoughts melted away and I just felt gratitude to our Heavenly Father. It was a special moment between Him and I. I am so thankful for all the things that He has created for us in this world. Yes, there are pitfalls and hardships out there and life doesn't always seem fair. But, I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan for us.

Let the transformation, BEGIN!!

Don started demo and transforming our kitchen last night. Here is a before and two process pictures. I really didn't like the knotty pine paneling. I guess it is a shame, because it is coming back in style. Just not my style. Don took them off and now is in the process of dry walling, I wish Becky was her. You can see a pocket door as well. We still haven't decided if we want to keep or get rid of it. By the time we are done with phase one of the kitchen this corner will have been sheet rocked (is that the right terminology?) and have the base cabinets and counter in. And of course painted and molding done. Phase two will be sometime next year, when we will spring for the wall cabinets (on this side of the kitchen). I won't even mention phase 3, phase 4, or phase 5. But I will say we want to complete phase 5 in the next five years. You should come see my kitchen then. Or next year you can come and see my corner and imagine the rest. I am just happy to have a corner to call mine and a husband willing to do the work. Cabinets and dishwasher arrive tomorrow. Oh yeah, did I mention he also has to install the dishwasher and disposal, GO HONEY!!!

More than just an umbrella!

For Holly's birthday one of the presents my parents gave her was a pok-a-dot umbrella and matching galoshes. She LOVES her umbrella (I wish I could remember the way she pronounces it. It is really cute)! And you think you can only use umbrellas to keep you dry from the rain, then you are sorely mistaken. You can use it to put in your baby stroller (when other favorites are in time out), you can use it to pretend you're mopping, you can use it as a cane, and you can use it to swat at flies. I am sure she will come up with more uses, for she has only had it for about 3-4 days!

Okay, when I was trying to get Holly to potty training to get her to sit longer on the potty I would cut her toe nails and paint them. She loved it. So the other day when she had stayed home from church sick, she asked me if I would cut her toe nails, while she was going to the bathroom. A little later she was sitting on the toilet and playing with this duck soap dispenser (without soap in it) She was pretending to paint her toe nails. Then she insisted on painting mine. So I had to grab the camera. She made sure she blew to dry my pretend polish.

Us Signing Papers

Our awesome Realtor Millie Knight. I would totally recommend her! Warning! long list below!

Us holding are keys that are no longer for our house since we changed the locks as one of the first things. Here is a list of things we are working on:

Project 1

Install Sub panel

Change Locks

Run Wire Put in outlet for dishwasher

Install new side door

Install Dishwasher

Change Bed #2 Door

Install Garbage Disposal Change downstairs door
Install new garage door

Project 3 & Project 4

Repair roof shingles

Clean gutters

Replace OD Jack

Re-attach gutters

Put lattice on deck

Put handrail down stairs

Project 5 & Project 6

Put in new shower faucet

Take out knotty pine paneling in kitchen

Put GFCI outlets in bathroom

install cabinets in kitchen (part 1 of 5)

Put GFCI outlets in kitchen

install counter in kitchen (part 1 of 5)

Put in fan in Master Bath

Put up dry wall in kitchen

Put up molding and paint

Project 7& Project 8

Install smoke detectors

Paint inside of house

Hang up fire extins.

Deodorize downstairs (ferrets and dog)

That's all for about now. (When I went to post this all got mashed together)

Yeah!

It is finally done, kinda, we signed for our house on Friday! So, it is pretty much ours. Why only pretty much, because one of the owners doesn't live here and signed and notarized one of the wrong papers. Hopefully all will be rectified tomorrow.

We went to Lowe's and spent a ton of money on fix it up stuff and now it is up to us to see how fix it up we are. My job is packing this apartment and painting the house (not to mention tell Don where I want everything). Don's job is EVERYTHING ELSE. I think he can handle it. Oh, and did I mention he has about 2 and a half weeks to get it done, doing it in 2 hour increments after work. I know my superman can do, I really HOPE so!

I am sure you will see a lot of blogging about this, along with before and after pictures.

Happy Birthday to me!

Don did dishes, cooked dinner, made a cake, wrapped presents, feed the kids and let me take an extra long nap. Plus I got birthday presents and good ones at that. Yeah, me!

P.S Julie thought I was thirty, or she was just being really nice. (I don't recognize myself in these pictures.) Either way I will take the compliment!

Holly's Birthday

We celebrated Holly's birthday this week. She turned three. She wanted a princess cake. That is all she would say when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. Well, this wasn't my best work, but she loved it. Poor Barbie was a little tipsy and leaning to the side. She is suppose to be Aurua, or as Holly would say "Sleeping Booty". She was excited about her gifts, Dora stuff and dolly house stuff. Not to mention a dress that was opened, as all clothes are, and pushed to the side quickly. Oh, when she opened a little Elmo figurine (that I got in the Target dollar section) she pushed his tummy and said, "He doesn't talk!" All in all it was a great birthday!

Holly's Birthday Breakfast

For the kids birthday they get to pick all there meals. Holly wanted blueberry/choc. chip pancakes. She was so excited to blow out her candle.

Holly's first day of school

Holly has been wanting this day for along time! She has been so jealous that Josh gets to go to school and she doesn't. She is going to a co-op preschool once a week. I will take turns teaching once every six weeks. She had a great time and learned all about the letter A. This next week it will be my turn to teach.

Concentration

I noticed that when Josh really concentrates that he does this funny things with his lips. It is almost like he has fish lips. Here we were doing homework and I didn't get the actual best shot of it.

He is doing really good with his homework and actually asked me on Friday if he could do homework. I should record that for six years from now!

Wow, A Campfire!

After swimming there was a nice campfire to sit around and cook hot dogs on a stick, and smores. All the families brought something to share and eat. This was awesome especially for Josh. He kept wanting to throw sticks and wood into the fire. Don, had gone home and I was watching kids and cooking by myself. Holly was sticking like glue to Jessica's side, no worries there. Josh on the other hand was sneaking sweets and chips, someone poured him Root Beer. He took one swig and spat it out telling the mom, "This is yucky!". I know he thinks he was sly and I didn't notice any of this, but I was well aware and just letting him live it up for a special holiday.

By the way it was the first time that I had had a smore in over 6 years, it was delicious!

Does life get any better?

For labor day we went over to the Pusters and the kids went swimming with a ton of other kids. Swimming is one of the best activities in the kids world. But not only did we do surprise swimming, Jessica was there! Can life get any better. (I would like to note I told my kids that they could say hi to Jessica, but then they were to leave her alone. She is just too nice and carried Holly all around. I hope Holly is that nice when she grows up).

Fruit Punch and Video Games!

I don't know if you can see it, but these kids have Fruit Punch mustache's. For the first time (with my knowledge) the kids got to drink fruit punch. We went to Fruderuckers for lunch and when I went to get the drinks there was no milk, so a miracle happened and we had Fruit Punch. They were so happy. Not only did they get pure sugar for a drink, but dad sprung for a video game. Oh, life is wonderful!

Which one, which one?

I just finished my book club book, 'Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' I really liked it! But now which one do I pick? I have four other books to read. It is a hard choice if only I had three days to read, oh wait we have a three day weekend coming (well minus Sunday)!

Move over Jessica

I ask Josh everyday this week, after school, who he played with. Hannah, is always his reply. I guess he likes to sit by her and play with her during recess. So watch out (or your probably thinking "thank goodness!") Jessica, he says he loves her!

Discovery

I discovered something today. I love to grocery shop (as long as it is only with one happy child, no children is bliss). I love trying to get the deal. I like walking the aisles everything organized and stocked. I like searching through the marked down items and seeing if I have a coupon to make it even cheaper. I love it when there are samples and I discover something wonderfully new and exciting. I love to prepare and get ready to go, with my list and coupons and ads in my binder. I like the feeling of HA I get that for FREE, or hey, toilet paper you weren't advertised marked down, but I have a coupon and now your under a buck! I love to hear the total and hand over that stack of coupons, like yeah, that's right, take off another 48 percent! I want to beat the store. I want to have my savings higher than my bill. Does it take time? OH YEAH! Is it worth it to me? DEFINITELY. I want to chant as I go out the door, "I'm saving money, I'm saving money". This is not for the faint heart, or the shopper that needs to get-in and get-out, but you know what I like the hunt! I can't wait to have my own pantry and fill it. AHH-Ha-Ha-Ha

My harvest

Aren't they cute! To bad I didn't water faithfully. The tomatoes are bitter and the potatoes are small. But I harvested them, YEAH!

First Day of School

Not the best pictures but the only ones I have. He barely wanted to wave good-bye.

Our (hopefully) new backyard!

This will be our new backyard if all continues on the right road. We will close between September 15 and the 25th. I can't wait for my kids to have room to romp!

I'm learning

This week we were suppose to go to the Splash Pad. I told Holly (who is jealous that Josh gets to go to school and she doesn't) we were going and she was so excited. When we left to take Josh to school it was raining! But I have learned that just because there is rain in one place in Knoxville it doesn't mean it will be raining in another. So off to the Splash Pad we went, and I am glad we did. It was nice weather and Holly loved it! I AM LEARNING!