Yay! I have internet!

Hi All! So I'm back and will try to remember everything that we've been working on. So much has been going on that its hard to remember what to write about and all that we've done! Here we are driving to the new house on the day of the move. The boys were great.

The moving truck was big excitment for the boys. We'd been reading a Berenstien Bear's book called "Moving Day." I actully think it helped!

Some of my plants along for the ride. I didn't realize how many potted plants I had! I love plants. :)

Granite! OH. MY. It's so nice having granite! You're probably like, yea...everyone has granite. But I've never experienced it until now. I love it! It's great to make bread on too! Unfortunately, my counters haven't been this clean since we moved in. I have stacks of papers that I need to figure out where to put. And piles of paint brushes, screws, caulk guns, and pieces of projects that need to be finished. But the good news is that those piles are getting smaller!! :)

Love this sink faucet! And my huge single basin sink. I can fit the whole highchair tray in there and rise it off so easily. Did you notice my push button garbage disposal and instant hot?? oh, yea. my hubby hooked me up!

the back patio! It looks so much better. Remember that slanted slab we had poured! Fixed! YAY!

This is very unglamourous...but this is how we slept the first few nights. Yup. Mattress on the floor with a quilt or two. We now have a metal bed frame set up and it on another wall with night stands. Our master {whole house} still has a long way to go.

Ok. So I am obsessed with a company that I just found via Craigslist. It's called Renewed Traditions. It's awesome! They restore antiques and build their own solid wood furniture. Here are some tables they've built. So...I'm saving my money and am going to have a table made with our dimensions! I haven't been able to take Josh to the warehouse yet, but soon! Maybe in September we'll have a new table for the kitchen. 770-292-9192 is their number if you're interested in visiting their warehouse. They are off McFarland Rd. Alpharetta, GA.

The boys loved watching the guys working on the patio. So cute aren't they??

So although I still have a little unpacking left. It's very obvious the things we don't have/"need" :) . But all in good time. I've gotten three things so far. 2 rugs from Ballard's Backroom {great deals!}...see below. And I got an old church pew reglued for the foyer. It was my mom's and I'm so excited to have it! Pictures of that next time!

We are loving the house. A few things we're still trying to figure out...where to put my office/sewing room and what to do for shelves in our master closet. I had SpaceMakers come out. They were so kind to do a free design. I'm not sure if we are going to use them. I really want real wood ~ not composit. But I'm not sure it's any cheaper to do it ourselves and then there's Josh's time....We'll see. For the mean time we need something! We've had enough of living out of our suitcases!

On the home front, the kids and I have been returning things to Home Depot and Lowes and getting back to a routine. During naps I've been painting baseboards, cleaning, doing laundry, putting up pictures....you know. Normal stuff. And each night Josh and I can hardly keep our eyes open. :) I signed Wells up for his first class - gymnastics! I hope he does well {i.e. doesn't cry for me the whole time and plays and listens to the teachers}. The next thing coming up is the beach! We will be headed out in a few weeks and we can't wait!

That's all for now! Have a good week!

~Helen

Moving is hard work

Hi All!

Just popping in to say we are still tredding water but are getting settled in. I still don't really have wireless at the house yet cause Comcast says they don't service our property. ??? But today is our deadline for them coming out to inspect. So, anyway...my pictures aren't loading with just the hotspot we have. {borrowing from the office} Sorry about that! I have so many things to show you that have come together. We successfully moved out of the Ash Rill house Friday the 29th. New tenants there asked to move their move in date to Saturday - eekk! So after moving Friday. We rolled out of bed bright and early {Josh had to go to work} and headed back to clean before their walk thru at 11am. It was a crazy morning but we're done! Now we get to focus on our new house! We love living here and are so thankful to have a beautiful home. We're still amazed at having so much space and having things like crushed ice! HA! The boys have adjusted well and have been better since moving. Kids really do thrive on routine. There are still several things that need to be done. Paint needs to be touched up. Granite bar needs to be resupported. The list goes on and on. However, it's great! Josh and I are still unbelievably exhausted but thankfully we are all healthy again. I think things are starting to slow down. For the first time, we are looking forward to a little cooler weather. I'm already day dreaming of cool nights sitting on our new patio out back....hmmm sounds wonderful. Pictures will be posted soo!!

That's all for now. Hope you have a wonderful week!

Helen

almost there

We are almost ready to move into the house. Meanwhile we are working on the Ash Rill house, enjoying some of our summer harvest, and taking trips we don't have time for :).

For some reason, I really had a hankering for home made lemonade. I think it's because I had some delicious (spiked) lemonade when we went away for our anniversary.

The boys are being pretty good. Wellington at the moment is driving me crazy. He's been very demanding lately and believes he controls my phone and the computer. The boys and I have also been battling a terrible cold for the last week and a half. I'm finally kind of feeling normal. Health is definitly not to be taken for granted.

Over the weekend we got to go to Lake Toxaway with Paul, Karyn and Andrew. We enjoyed being up there so much! It's a beautiful place if you ever get the chance to go. We swam, boated and did lots of fishing. I don't think Karyn or I have any chance but to do lots of fishing in the next several years. :) Here we are headed out.

{sorry about the finger!}

Fielding was out. of. control. when it came to fishing and having the fishing pole. I think we were all amazed/shocked/confused by his obsession.

While we were down at the lake, I spotted a snake in some of the shrub netting. The guys promptly went to work getting him out. In the end, the snake survived. We think he was nonpoisonous.

My brave husband.

Happy birthday, Karyn! We got to celebrate Karyn's birthday while there too. The boys were super excited about cupcakes...as always. They were delicious!

I also introduced the boys to Duck Hunt and Mario! Oh my...it was so fun to play the original Nintendo. Josh and I wanted to play but the kids ran off to get into trouble so we had to stop. :) Did you play the original Mario?

Ok- the house is getting sooo close! We got gutters last week. Here's the gutter machine. I had never seen this thing before.

Trips to Home Depot aren't as thrilling any more. Wells fell asleep on the way there. I transfered him into the cart and did most of my shopping before he woke up! Poor guy!

This window still hasn't been replaced. But you can see our cool bronze gutters here.

I couldn't help but do a little something fun since I was bringing these pavers from the other house anyway. ...An entrance to my will be garden!

The floors are still not right. We had planned to move Wednesday...tomorrow. But the floors have many spots that have issues. Thus, they are coming to sand, do another coat of stain, and put the poly on tomorrow and Thursday. Friday is moving day!

There was dust all over all the trim...even with a bagged sander. :(

Here's the kitchen this morning....While I'm writing this, the guys are finishing the granite and installing carpet upstairs. Check in next time for pictures of that progress!

That's all for now! Hopefully things will fall into place. It's crazy here. I've got to head back to the house to check work, pay guys, clean for floor people and then do some returns at Lowes!

~ Helen

Another week down

Below is one of my little pirates. We had a great time this weekend celebrating the birthdays of Michaela and then later my friend Lindsay. Wellington and Fielding were pirates for the kid party. :)
And here you see Wellington "relaxing" has he told me. We had lunch at the new house several times last week. I guess this is what Wells likes to do after a nice meal.

This week we worked on the cabinets, garage and floor. None are completely done. All look a lot better and the progress is exciting to see. Here's a picture of the cabinets with primer.

We painted the cabinets inside and out. It was great that we had nice weather most of the week. They guys were able to paint cabinet doors in the garage and outside. As you can see...the garage is a mess and was partially painted and drawn on. But now it has a nice coat of white paint!

I think the cabinets looked better even with primer!

The laundry room is all in! Cabinets have just been cleaned. I'll probably paint them sometime later. They are fine for now. Love that I have a sink in there!

We went with a lightened version of Sherwin Williams' "Chopsticks" for the cabinets. They are a very soft cream, a little darker than our trim. I haven't picked out knobs yet...maybe tomorrow. We plan to go with oiled bronze hardware.

Sorry for the fuzziness....Just another view of the cabinets painted.

We're finally to doing the floors! I remember talking about the floors as one of the last things to do. So exciting! They were supposed to be done today. However, true to form, the subs are not done and Josh actually went over today and did some work behind them. But everything is sanded and we have 2 coats of stain on the floor. They are not where I want them to be. We want a white painted floor but no one will do it for us. I guess they are concerned about durability. In the pictures below, the baseboard look aweful ~ please note that there is dust from the sander and they won't be that yellow. :) They boys were amazed by the sanding tools.

On top of the stain we will put down a polyurathain (sp), 2 or 3 coats, and then the quarter round trim. This week will be devoted to getting the floors done, garage finished {little painting left}, and the granite template made {Tuesday}. Also on my agenda is to get my boys healthy! They both have nasty noses still and now I am loosing my voice. Please pray for health and energy for us to finish. We have 14 days or less till we move in. It's gonna be crazy!

That's it for now! Have a wonderful week!

Helen