Slight disaster but we keep on truckin'

Hello All! We've made some progress this week. Although, it's hard to remember when things happen now. We took our first load of stuff over a few days ago. It's nice to have some of the boxes out of the way. Our disaster involved the pouring of the concrete, our back yard, front stoop and concrete poured into one of our new drains. Since that day, {I think it was last Wednesday??} I've been exhausted, tense and ready to be done with contractors and subs.

I'm also done with making big purchases off craigslist. I've had a series of bad decisions this week and am a bit frustrate with myself....We bought a washer and dryer from someone and it all fits...just hope it actually works when we get it in. We also ordered a beverage cooler for the kitchen ~ I'm very excited about that. And some pull out trash cans for next to the sink!

The wood floors went in this week! It's amazing how it pulls things together. It will be a few weeks until we can do the finish since we want everything else to be done or close to it.

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I love the closet with wood floors. I'm hoping to convince Josh to build shelves for us....We'll see about that later on.

Here's Wellington's room with paint and cleaned up. It's a light blue...kind of hard to tell with this picture.

Fielding's room is also blue ~ almost the exact same color. No, I did not intend that. The colors just didn't turn out the way I thought they would. Oh well.

The guest room is the same as most of the down stairs.

The boys and I have eaten out a little more than normal recently. They've been troopers.

Stucco also went up last week! It's still a different color. Sent the outdoor colors to the contractor today....so I think they're painting later this week!

I really liked the stucco guys. They seemed like they knew what they were doing and were very helpful to me. So refreshing.

We also got to play at the spray ground with the Henrys then show them the house. Over the weekend, Josh worked really hard putting trim and baseboards back up. I haven't seen it in person, but his pictures look great. His work will really help us move along this week.

On the back of the property we have black berries! Those brambles are staying until the fruit is done. Then I'm going in with the weedeater and roundup.

The concrete. *sigh* I'm tired of the whole situation. Basically, they didn't do what we told them to do. They drove on the back yard creating deep grooves. Crushed the drainage pipes. Did a terrible job with leveling, and didn't use a form board on the front stoop, and poured concrete in a drain. Right now, I think we're going to tear the back out and redo. Not sure...We'll see. It's started innocently like this...

And then I left....

On a more fun note, I went to a granite place today. It. Was. Awesome. They do everything in this warehouse. I selected a few to get quotes on for the kitchen and am waiting for a quote.

That was last week. Yesterday we had fun at Lake Lanier with family and got sufficiently burned. We came home for naps then ate leftover pizza, watched Toy Story 3 on netflix, hung out with Paul and Karyn, then put the kids to bed. After they were in bed we heard fireworks going off despite the rain. So we got umbrellas and got the kids out of bed. For about 20 minutes we stood in the yard with the rain coming down watching fireworks over the treetops. Hey - at least we got to see some. Maybe next year we'll get to see a bonifide show.

I think we're making progress on potty training. Fielding woke up this morning with crusty eyes again. Went to the pediatrician ~ pink eye in both eyes and the beginning of an ear infection. Poor guy.

Ok, I think I naps are needed. That's all for now!

Helen

One month progress

A month has gone by...and we're getting closer everyday. The boys and I {well, Josh, too} are exhausted but keep chugging along. I think we went to the new house every day this week. Some days we stayed longer than others, but still - it's tiring for the littles to do something daily. We're making progress, but we're in a stage where the house just seems really dirty inside and out and not a lot of "wow" progress. Hopefully we'll get that this week. We passed 2 inspections this week, which means we can put back all the drywall that was down. Wawhoo! The guys were putting back the dried out insulation in the garage today along with new drywall. During the time I have been home over the last 2 weeks, I refinished this night stand that I had. I think it will go nicely in Wells' new room.

All the new windows and doors are in and they look great! I love having these french doors leading to the back yard. Hopefully next week we will have a concrete slab where Wellington is standing. It's soo muddy at the house right now!

This window is replaced but they brought the wrong one :/. It's supposed to be frosted....we will see whether we get a replacement.

Back at home, our garden has been doing really well! We've harvested lots of white and purple onions, several zuchini and a cucumber or two. I have about 30 green tomatoes that I'm waiting on to ripen. Everything has been delicious! I love growing my own food!

We've also been potty training again. It seems like it's more mommy training/remembering to take Wells to the toilet. He hasn't told me he's needed to go or gone #2 on the pot the entire time. So frustrating. But my floors are very sanitized!! I have the hardest time keeping them off the couches too. They love throwing the pillows off. Wells was not supposed to be doing this....

Sherwin Williams is getting lots of my money and I'm sure they are getting tired of me coming in. However, they have been so great and helpful! Today I got a sample of my trim color. I think I've nailed that down but have yet to buy the big bucket. The other day Wells fell asleep on the way to SW. He stayed asleep while I put him in the stroller {normally for Fielding}, slept the whole time we were in SW, and only woke up while we ran thru the pouring rain to the car. Yea, I think we was a little worn out. Oh, I even had to put his shoes on before putting him in the stroller too!

The master bedroom is now painted! So much better than the dark teal that was there. It's going to be very white/creamy in there, but I love it!

The floors are here! Hurray! We have the floor guy coming to install on Monday. We may have to push that back so we can get some dry wall up. But, it's going in soon!

This picture is taken from the sitting room looking out the french doors. The concrete patio will be right where all that mud is now.

The garage. The guys were getting to work on the drywall.

Yesterday I was at the house for 4.5 hours. I didn't get nearly as much work done as I should have, but my mom, dad and brother stopped by for a while and I got to walk them through the progress. I let the boys play in our master tub. The hot water didn't work yet, but they didn't mind. They had a blast. Anything to keep them happy sometimes...and let mommy work nearby.

Here's Fielding in the front yard. We had a picnic on Tuesday at the house then watered some transplanted shrubs. This kid loves the hose.

The stucco guys are supposed to come tomorrow and set up scafolding, and they say they will work in the rain next week if needs be. Our contractor said he hopes to be done with all his stuff by the end of next week. Do you know how excited that made me?!?!

Oh yes, Lowes is also getting a lot of my time and money. The boys don't mind cause they get to drive the lawn mowers each time on our way in. They are going to be sooo excited when we get a new mower! I like the John Deers myself.

We also painted our master bathroom...still needs a lot of work, but it's sure better than that yellow! Can't wait to paint that black. We hope to do a full remodel, but that will be a year or two down the road.

Here's a reminder of the yellow....

Mud. That's about all we have left in the front of the house. *sigh* Someday, we'll have money to do landscaping....My dad drew a cool plan for us to day dream about. Pretty cool.

A shot of our new front windows, irrigation, and front stoop that collects water now. I think that is going to be replaced next week too with the right pitch.

That's where we are now! It's 9:45pm on Friday night but I think I'm going to head to bed! Ha!

~Helen

House Progress

Hi All! Things are really moving along. This is the end of 3 weeks working on the house, and I feel like we've made real progress. Although, the house is so dusty and dirty it seems like we've just made a big mess! So far, the addition has been put on. Here is the space {below} where the hand railing used to be...It took the framers only 2 days to put it up! I was amazed. It created a huge room that we will eventually finish ~ but for now it will stay plywood.

This is after the first day of framing ~ amazing! We've had a new roof put on. And today they are working on the soffets and facia (sp??) boards.
I've been spending as much time over there as possible...either with or without the boys. My friend Lindsey and my sister Joy have watched the boys for me making it so much easier to clean the grime. Notice our new roof below! And all that landscaping...gone. My dad is a landscaper/hydrologist and is helping us with the yard and some water issues. I don't think he liked anything that was there and they were in his way....So, it's pretty bare now. But here we are earlier this week having our first meal at the "new house".

And when I say grime, I mean grime! Here's a picture of the laundry room door. I had already scrubbed the top half. Some parts of the house are sooo gross. The boys like to help. Actually, Wells loves to help. Fielding is only there messing around because I'm forcing him to. He's going thru a very bratty stage. I hope we get thru this fast.

Here is the front stoop which needs some help with water flow. As you can see, all my bushes are gone. Instead, we have lots of mud. The boys think it's great ~ my car thinks otherwise.
Remember that ugly fire place and the entertainment nook? Look at this transformation! I just love my new windows. I think this will be my favorite room in the house. It makes me happy! :)
Our inspector is being pretty particular, so we're having do to a lot of drainage work. We will now have everything piped away from the house. I guess it's for the best. Where the boys are standing will be a concrete patio in a few weeks. Get ready for some back yard parties! :) {FYI food and drink may be a little sparse at the said parties...funds are being used elsewhere....our apologies}.

This picture was taken this afternoon. Windows are almost done. Marco {our awesome do anything guy} and his guys are painting the upstairs bedrooms and hallways. I have to go back to SW for more paint after Fielding wakes up {second trip for today...fourth I think for this week}. So another week down. Hope we can keep up this pace!

P.S. This shouldn't be a side note, but, Josh and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last Saturday and Sunday. We left the kids with my parents {first time leaving them} and stayed at a hotel downtown in Atlanta. It was AMAZING! We layed out by the pool, had a fabulous dinner at Nava, explored the hotel and went to bed early! HA! In the morning we swam some more, got Starbucks, and headed back to the burbs to get the kids. All week Wells has been asking to go back to Mia and Boss' :). I love that they love them so much. I'm so blessed to have an amazing husband. He's everything I need and we fit together so well. I can't imagine life without him and am glad he's stuck with me forever and ever. :)

~Helen