More House Pictures

We are finally starting to feel like we live in a HOME. All the bedrooms have a fresh coat of paint on them. Bethany chose Lilac Whisper and Sarah chose Pink Whisper. You can't really tell the colors in these pics but you can get a feel of their rooms so far.
Bethany's Purple Room. I spent this past Monday doing a little more organizing in Bethany's room. She was SO happy to see a box out of her room. She has taken a little more care of keeping it clean.

Sarah's Room primed and ready to paint. Remember it was RED before.

Sarah's Pink Room. She is SO proud of this room. I don't have to fuss at her too much about keeping it clean.

MY Girls. I love my new washer and dryer. I am so glad that I don't have to cart clothes to the laundry mat anymore. That was such a pain.

We went to the NC house a few weeks ago with both vehicles and loaded them down. We brought back the living room chair, side table and the pieces to bunk Bethany's beds ... plus a few other odd pieces ... whatever we could get in the truck or van. We were loaded down (that would have been a picture worth taking, but I didn't). We still have to get the sofa and cocktail table. It really doesn't seem worth renting a U-haul for those two items, but I don't think the sofa will fit on the back of Myron's truck or in the back of my van.

We have to figure it out soon. Both sets of parents are coming up April 23rd for Sarah's First Communion. I at least would like to have a comfortable place for people to sit. Sarah took her First Reconciliation yesterday. She was a little nervous but did very well. I was very proud of her.

But then I am a proud Mama. Both girls are doing very well in school right now. They are challenged on a daily basis to do their best. Also in April, they will be performing in a Violin Graduating Recital. Sarah will be graduating from Pre-Twinkle and Bethany will be graduating from Pre-Twinkle and Book 1. It has taken us a while to get to where they are learning new songs, but we are finally there. Sarah is just right along in Book 1. Bethany has a few more songs before she gets caught up. Their teacher, Miss Katherine, like to review ALL the songs they already know. Unfortunately for Bethany, that has taken a while. Plus, we are having to refresh her memory about some of the songs. I have been pleasantly surprised at what she remembers.

Oh My!!!! It is 2:40 p.m. I need to pick-up the girls. This is my reading time ... waiting in carline for the girls to get out of school.

I will try my best to keep the updates up to date.

Long Overdue Update

I absolutely canNOT believe it has been over a month since my last update. Where does the time go?

We are officially in the house. We moved in January 31st. Here is the note I posted on Facebook about Move-in Weekend:
Weekend of January 30-31, 2010
I don't even know where to start. It was such a crazy weekend. Myron had to work on Saturday until around 4 p.m. Our original plan was to go to the NC house when he got off work, pick the U-haul up in Asheville, load some of our furniture, and bring it back; then move the apartment. That idea was squashed when a snow storm decided to move through. Unfortunately, we didn't get the snow in SC just the ice. It was SO thick on the windshield of my car that it took two days to de-ice. Instead, we went over to the house that evening and started to paint. We wanted to at least get Bethany's room painted since the girls would be sleeping there until Nana was able to bring Sarah's bed to her. But it didn't happen. We only got one and a half walls painted.
Sunday, we got up and went to pick up the U-haul around 9 a.m. By the time we got it and back to the apartment, it was around 10 a.m. We started loading with the furniture. Then we packed it full with boxes. By now it was around 12:30 p.m. We closed up the truck and grabbed lunch. Then went to the house to unload. There were still boxes and junk in the apartment.
Now, remember there was still ice EVERYwhere but the sun was out. Luckily, our apartment was on the sunny side and the ice melted on the sidewalk quickly. Unfortunately, the sun does not come up in the front of the Little House. In fact, the sun does NOT even touch the front of the house at all during the day. The sidewalk and steps were covered with a very thick layer of ice. This took up about an hour of our time trying to get it where we could walk. WHAT a MESS!!!
We got the truck unloaded and back to the U-haul store at 5:00 p.m. There was still a ton of stuff at the apartment. So we loaded the van with as much stuff as we could and took over to the house. AND still had to go back to the apartment for more. Where did ALL this stuff come from? It was CRAZ-Y!!! On the second trip, we had both vehicles crammed full of junk but got everything out of the apartment.
Our last trip got us back to the house around 10:30 p.m. Thankfully, there was a two hour delay for the girls the next day. We got them in the bed then finished unloading the vehicles. I finally told Myron to just get everything out of his truck and leave the van. I would finish it later. At 1:00 a.m., we went to bed.
My Mom came up on Monday to help me get things in order. I am SO very grateful to her. She helped me wipe the kitchen down with lots of clorox, line the shelves with shelf paper, and put things away. We also washed ALL the drapes in the dining room and living room. My Dad came up on Thursday and finished out the laundry closet. I now have an area to store my detergents until we can put up shelves.
They had to leave on Saturday. I was so sad to see them leave but hope they know how grateful I am for all their help in getting us settled. Myron and I spent the rest of the weekend getting Sarah's room primed and running the cables for TV, internet and phone.
The girls are LOVING the yard. They come home everyday wanting to play outside. They are having such a wonderful time out there. We have a little area that we would like for them to use as their very own little gardens in the Spring.

Here are some pictures of the house the Tuesday after we moved in.
Sarah graciously gave up her bed in Bethany's room so Nana would not have to sleep on the air mattress.

Bethany's Room

Living Room

Kitchen


There was complete chaos in every room.
Do you see in the kitchen picture where the trash can is located? That is where the dishwasher goes. It sat in that spot for a little while because we had to have an electrician come in to wire it up. There is NO ground wires, or whatever you call it, in this house. We finally hired an electrician who started this week changing out all the wiring in the house. As of today, he has finished the kitchen, dining room and living room, except the switches.

My dishwasher is officially in and working. And believe me, it has worked too. About the time I had Myron trained to dry the dishes while I washed, the dishwasher was installed. It was SO nice having him dry while I washed. It made for quick clean-up after meals.

I will post again with more pictures. I believe this post is getting a BIT lengthy.

House Update: January 15, 2010

The hardwood floors are underway. They look absolutely amazing. George should be done with them by the end of the week.

Remember the spot in the Master Bedroom, this is it now. It should come out completely before it is all over.

Here are the possible stains for the white oak. The one on the left is just poly and the one on the right is a mix George had used on another job. We decided to go with the three coats of poly.
This is Bethany's room with the coarse sanding done. All it needs now is a fine sanding and some poly.
Sarah's room is almost done also. Still needs the fine sanding and poly.
Here is a picture of the dust containment system. I have been assured that it will collect about 90% of the dust that sanding the floors creates.

The kitchen floors are cleaning up so nicely. If you remember, there was some yucky, yucky black tar on these floors at one time. We are so excited to see them finished. We decided to go with a darker stain in the kitchen than the rest of the house. We have chosen Cabot Sangria. It is a rich red color. It is going to be beautiful ... I hope ... hee hee.

Another view of the kitchen floors.

Unfortunately, there will not be too many more pictures of the floor refinishing process until they are completely finished. Myron and George have banned me from entering the house until it is all finished ... spoiled sports. No, really I don't want to take any chances of messing anything up for George. I want him to be able to do the floors right and without any disturbances from us.

Need a GOOD floor refinisher ... I have just the man. Need a GOOD Handyman ... I know that man too.

Bethany at the Spelling Bee

Some time back before Christmas, both girls had a class spelling bee. Bethany was one of two winners in her class. Therefore she got to go to the Regional Spelling Bee where she competed with six other 3rd grade classes which was held yesterday.

Myron took off work so he could be there with her. We were so proud of her. She was very nervous. She drew seat 11 and there were only 12 contestants in her group. We had been practicing different words but we were using words like: casserole, machinery, college, etc. We were SO surprised that the words were only four to five letters long. There was one that was six letters: ribbon. Bethany got beef, skim, pants, lasso and there may have been another but those were the only ones I could remember. The one she got stuck on was sense/cents. She didn't think about it until she started to spell it that it could have been the other one. So she said "s" and couldn't change it once she started. She just finished spelling the word and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, she didn't pick the right word and was disqualified. She DID spell the word correctly just not the right word. She made it to the Top 5. She was SO close. She was devastated.

Again, we were SO proud of both the girls that represented Prince of Peace's 3rd grade classes.

House Update

There have been many changes since the last update. I started getting quotes for having the floors refinished when we realized there were some plumbing issues that needed to be addressed. So we took a step back and I tried to find a plumber that would come out and give us an estimate. But here is the kicker, they don't give free estimates; they charge a service fee which ranged from $29 to $65. FORGET THAT!

Then I turned to the Handymen in the yellow pages. They do it ALL ... plumbing, electrical, home improvements, etc. So I found Mark. I showed him where we wanted the washer/dryer combo to go. He looks at me and says, "You are going to HATE that. You do NOT want your washer/dryer in your bathroom." So I show him the hallway closet where it could go after a little modification. He said "you will like it here much better." The next guy came in. I showed him the bathroom then I showed him the closet. He looks at me and says, I swear he said this, "That is TOO much work." (regarding the closet area). He then proceeds to quote for the bathroom and leaves. I knew right then I would NOT be hiring him. Mark it is!!! He started on Thursday. Here are some pictures showing what all he did over the course of 4 days.

Before picture of the closet. There is a storage space just above the closet. You can barely see it in the picture. It was pretty much useless to me because I couldn't reach nor see up there. Mark knocked all that out and made it one open space.

Closet is taken out and Mark has started rebuilding the frame. He has also installed the plumbing for the washer.

Here is another picture to show the electrical in and drywall installed.

Another view of the closet in progress.

The closet is finished and the baseboard is in place. The thermostat was moved from the inside of the closet to this outer wall. Granted it wasn't inside the closet until Mark rebuilt it.

The floors are coming along nicely. I just don't have a lot of time to be posting right now. My in-laws are on their way for a visit and I still have LOTS to do. Although, I am going to make one more post.

House Update: January 2, 2010

I almost typed 2009 ... ha ha ha.
Today we spent the WHOLE day pulling up carpet, padding, tack strips and staples. OMGosh ... the staples. It was SO hard to get all those staples up. Myron even had a blister on his hand. I felt so bad for him. But I just couldn't get some of them.
Here are the floors completely exposed:
Living Room

Hallway with Telephone Booth

Bethany is vacuuming her room and yes those are earmuffs. She is so funny.


Master Bedroom. Don't ask me what that spot is ... I have no idea.

Sarah's Room. She has agreed to the smaller room.

On Sunday, we finished pulling up the tack strips and staples in the Living Room. It was the only room we didn't completely finish on Saturday.

After all the carpet, tack strips and staples were removed; we moved into the kitchen. We were trying to get as much of the tar/glue up as we could. The girls just had to have a try at the sander.

End of 2009 ... Beginning of 2010

Thursday afternoon we went to the NC house. We knew that the fish tank was probably a goner after the 4 to 5 day power outage during the 2009 Snow Storm. After Myron unlocked the door, he came out and said "Ewwww!!!" It smelled SO bad. There was not one room in the house that was not affected by the stench. While I washed clothes, Myron cleaned out the fish tank. We loaded the tank into the back of the car and brought it with us. The stand was left for the next trip.
Although this is not the most recent picture, it gives you and idea of how the tank was set up. Some of these things died and there were some new things added.

This is what we found on Thursday. YUCK!!!

For now, the tank is disassembled. It is one less thing we have to deal with in North Carolina. Now if we don't want to go up there, we don't have to.

We had planned to leave around lunch time on New Year's Day. At around 6 p.m. that night, we headed back to SC. Between the tank and laundry, it took the whole day to get every thing done.

Saturday morning, we took our time and headed to the Little House.