ding...ding...ding....House Update...ding...ding...ding

Another exciting episode of The Old House. I am your host, Karen. And this week there has been a lot of progress since you last visited. We have the exterior wall up and the first level of stucco has been applied. Here's a shot at mid week last week...

...and then my the end of week 2 we had windows and doors installed.

...now great progress is being made, and the outside treatments start to be applied.

...and this is where we stand today.

I know its really exciting, but its time for a short commercial break. We we come back either Saturday or Sunday, we have some great updates inside the house with an the addition of the hallway to the new master suite, so please stay tuned.

Ok--these are my new must haves. Look here for snap boxes.
I found these described on Donna Downey's blog today. She has been re-organizing here studio--which I love!! Can't wait to get more bookshelves in my new den as well as a new desk of some sort. I will have an entire wall to myself. C has said that he would like back into "our den", so I guess I need to yield and give him half the room...and that's really fine, because we will have much more space with the addition.

I will get the snap boxes--I swear---I just have to wait until C lifts the Karen scrap trade embargo, and I can shop again!

Promise to be better...

OK--no house pictures today, but soon I promise. The contractor is moving now. We have a hallway and door into our new master suite. Roofing, some interior framing completed, and the first layer of stucco on the outside. Tomorrow we are going to buy the tile and cabinets for the bath. So exciting! Anyway, I was hopping around at the various blogs I haunt and came across this site. It's called Wonderful Graffiti. It has so many different words, phrases, etc. for placing on your walls. So much fun. I think I am going to look into the site more, and find something for my new bedroom or bathroom. Something that will make me smile when I see each each day.

Sorry, it's been so long...

We signed the contract with our builder on March 22nd. The following week we get this...



...and for the next several weeks we stayed the same... even the cats were getting upset. After all, their backyard wasn't the same--strange people would come in the backyard, disturb everything, and then leave, and ruin a good nap.



Or at least this is what I imagine the cats saying, and this expression says it all...

Then after several phone calls, and unanswered voice mails this Wednesday we get the foundation in...great I am thinking I can take pictures this weekend of the actual concrete being placed, but no sooner than this morning, three men come through the back gate, and by the time C and I get home this afternoon, we have the following...

Go figure...all the wood was delivered yesterday, and they ripped through the rough framing in all of one day. Now, for the walls of the bathroom and walk-in closet on Monday and Tuesday. So we are on our way...finally!

It's been awhile...

...since I last blogged. I have been extremely busy, and just about at the end, so I thought I would take a few minutes and share a story my aunt sent me via email...

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom".
They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". "Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?".
"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.
"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?".
She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone".
She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them".

Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

I wish you enough...

Post pictures of the SLOW construction on the house, soon.

You know you are loved...

Well Carrie did a wonderful tribute to her mom in her blog today! So I am going to return the favor for my friends. I adore Carrie and Korie, I love their spirit for life. They both have unique traits that I don't have, and it's fun hearing the adventures. For example, they take risks. Carrie with her adventures in the peace corps, and Korie leaping in with both feet to the overseas adventures with her husband. I adore that spirit knowing that I could never do that--it is way outside my comfort zone.

I love the fact that they are both love organization. They need to have it, almost like breathing. The day planners, PDAs, notebooks filled with appointments. And they always need that, otherwise they feel their worlds' are out of control. It cracks me up when either of them get a new calendar or planner because I can feel how happy they are when their world is in order.

...and the talent. They are both so talented with their scrapbooking.

Carrie has dedicated a ton of time to scrapping the memories for her children. Each one has their own scrapbook filled with layouts that Carrie has done so beautifully. With those books, Carrie has made each of her children feel special.

Korie with her classes and her original creativity for all things with paper and her new found friend, photography. Baby G will adore all the pictures you have taken of her as she gets older...I promise.

The final thought, I love that they care...I am super busy in my life, but when I write on the blog, they read and respond---always. I know that I can depend on these two amazing women throughout my life, just as much as they can depend upon me. I love you both!!

What is wrong with me--Day 2

OK--

So, C and I had a talk about this and I finally got to talk to the doctor's nurse.

1. C's suggestion: I need to learn to release the stress. I get all wound up, and stress, as much as I read, really messes up your system. So, I am on a mission to learn to breath deep, and let the stress go.
2. Spoke to the nurse, and I have an appointment on May 2nd for blood work, etc. At least that is much better than 4 months out. She was great, and I was happy that I called. If there is nothing wrong, then I will be able to breath easier. Her parting words, "If you get pregnant between now and then, please call and cancel this appointment and set one up for your first pregnancy visit." I said thanks, and told her I would call right away if that happened.
3. Why are the stupid, poor people in this country breeding? and so easily? I got it, they have no stress, the government will pay for their children so no worries...but I digress.

Korie--thank you so much for the great response. I appreciate you!! I promise I will keep you posted on the happenings.

What the hell is wrong with me?

OK--we have a problem Houston--and it is otherwise known as my reproductive system. Nothing is taking...had positive thoughts all this month...thought just maybe...maybe...but, no. Almost broke down in the bathroom at work here, but quickly put it back together--this place is so unfriendly at times--you don't need to hear a crying PM in the stall in the ladies room. So, decided to spill it in the blog instead. I have made an appointment (sort of, on the waiting list) to see my OB/GYN, and with this issue the nurse has to call me back and give me some instructions before seeing the doctor. God knows what that is...take your temperature, pee on a stick until you see a second line...and all the other things that I have been doing for the past year. Sure, waiting until I was ready shouldn't have been a big thing...I am only 34! Other thoughts, I am truly trying to stay positive with everything...but why can't this happen? And oh by the way, is it normal to be a complete jealous freak when you hear about a friend expecting, or almost in tears when you see a baby or pregnant woman...then a few minutes later think it's totally unfair to feel the way you do towards friends and that I seriously need some mental help...AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF-one of my little pleasures in life, reading CK while curled up in bed, has lost all appeal, because I will just see another cute layout of an adorable baby staring back at me...

Ok--Tub specs for my dear friend who is grossed out by gunk---believe me I thought about cleaning--as I do hate to do that chore. . . the tub has a control to blow air through the jets to clean them out after every bath so they stay clean. As for the price, the original tub I thought would be fun to have is over $8000. True--and I almost fell out of my chair when I heard the price. I'm not paying that though...C and I can get things wholesale, so my price would be half the MSRP...you know me, I typically freak out when I spend that much on one thing. And C has to keep reassuring me..."Are you OK with spending this much money? You aren't going to hypervenilate on me, are you?" All I can say is he knows me too well--and at times its quite scary...

Can't Commit Decorator (Day2)

OK--so you said you would help. So now is the opportunity...I decided I would pick out the bathroom sinks and bathtub first. Those, I thought would be pretty easy. I wanted clean lines, nothing frilly, but the bathtub had to be special. My aunt sent me this article saying what the five hottest trends in home remodeling are today, tomorrow, and future. The article said you do not design for what is hot today, but what is hot tomorrow or future (depending on budget). Good advice...the trouble is that I have wanted a whirlpool bath for ages, and now I was finally getting one...enter problem...article said that "whirlpool baths are yesterday." My heart sank, until I read further...bathtubs that have whirlpool capabilities but also soaking capabilities are the tomorrow, and the future just way to expensive for our little pocketbook. So tomorrow it is... so here is the bathtub...its by Kohler. And the tomorrow aspect of this tub is the chromatherapy lighting. Sounds interesting, and the clean lines of the bathtub means no curves or grooves that I will have to scrub to get clean. Click here to see the matching sinks.

So what do you think?

Signing off--Can't commit decorator

My friend Carrie tagged me. I always enjoy reading other people's answers. So here are mine:
Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Reservation Agent for Choice Hotels
2. Dillards salesperson
3. Waitress at an Italian Restaurant
4. Engineer

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Knotting Hill
2. Office Space
3. Oceans 11 (hot men)
4. All the Harry Pottter movies

Four places you have lived:
1. Chicago, Illinois
2. Phoenix, Arizona
3. Tucson, Arizona
4. Indianapolis, Indiana

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Alias
2. ER
3. Survivor
4. Coupling

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Ireland/Europe
2. Vancouver
3. Orlando
4. All over California

Four websites I visit daily
1. Friends' blogs
2. Ali Edward's blog
3. MSN
4. 2peas (not every day, but I don't spend a huge amount of time on the net)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Italian
2. tacos
3. Peach Kuchen (its a peach pie basically, my mom makes it, and its to die for)
4. the breakfast burritos my husband makes

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. beach
2. getting a pedicure---I desperately need one
3. on vacation with my husband
4. scrapbooking with my girlfriends

Four friends I am tagging I think will respond:
1. Sarah
2. Mara
3. Deanna
4. Korie (I know she has already been tagged by Carrie)

Where to start...

OK-I haven't had such the "exciting" and scary month Carrie has had, but big news we met with our contractor yesterday and the down payment has been received, some refinements to the contract has been completed, and we are signed and on our way. Now, it has just dawned on me how much work/decisions we are going to make.

I am horrible on decisions, I love all the options we have with this addition. It's going to be amazing and fun...we will be creating a space just for us...from the ground up. Everything from what kind of doors do we want to what color carpet, tile, etc. to where do you want electrical outlets and lights. And to me, all these decisions are scary. I hate making decisions with personal choices; at work its no problem; but when it affects me personally--I hate doing it. The options are endless, and there is always that little nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "Is this the end all be all for this, or is there something else that you haven't come across yet?" OK, that's why I wouldn't call my house decorated, just lived in. I need to come up with a theme (my mom's suggestion) and then build on it, and that's scary in itself. I think C will help make the final decisions, but I will be the one who brings the options to the table, and most time I end up not choosing any of those options. So, (here comes the favor), my friends that are so savvy on the internet, please help me find some websites that help me tackle the options and help me get a theme together--because I feel like signing this blog like a Dear Abby letter: A Can't Commit Decorator!

alive...

It's been a horrible busy month, and working basically non-stop for most of it...so my apoligies for not writing until now--almost a month since my last entry...

the month was quiet...and now I am going to try and start focusing on the house...more to come with color and decorating choices...

Sorry this is so short, but we are doing well...and everything is still the same...

Tuesday--the last day of January

Can you believe it--another month has gone by already?? It seems like only a week or so ago was Christmas and the new year, not 30 days ago. Where does time seems to go? Tomorrow is February--and here, the temperature feels like March into April, and we haven't seen a drop of rain in over 100 days. With my luck a spring deluge right when they open our existing roof to build the addition. If that happens--you all will hear about it! :)

Other excitement for the week, not really anything. Just hanging on and waiting for the weekend.

It's over

After several weeks, and one really maddening week of real work-9 hours, work at (or on) home--5 hours--the appraisal is over. OK--so you ever get the feeling of being let down. There has to be more to an appraisal then... "I'm going to take some pictures, measure the house, and then I will be done." I need some praise..."Your house looks great...love the colors...something." I would even take "...like the flowers." But nothing. All I got was, "this house is completely square", as he was measuring my back patio. OK--yes that's right we live in a completely square box.

Either way, the house looked super. Especially with clean carpets. C and I started a trend to take off our outside shoes at the door, and put on slippers "that you can only wear in the house" on. Hoping that trend continues.

Other positive things that came out of this appraisal...

• De-cluttered my house. Threw out, gave away, or disposed of absolutely everything that we haven't used in at least six months, not to mention years.
• Organized my house. Yes, that's right. Put everything where it belonged, or created new bins, etc. if it didn't really have a home.
• It's manageable--now I just have to keep the house up. As both C and I work things get way out of hand at times. If I just take 15 minutes in the evening, and clean something, anything, I am hoping everything won't get so out of control.

I should now go around the house and take the "before" pictures. That way, once the construction starts and finishes over the next six months, I can remember a completely clean and happy home. Post the pictures up here over the next week or so.

Sunday and all is good

Its Sunday, and all is good. The house is completely put together for the appraisal tomorrow. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that we only have to do this once, and we can get all the things constructed all at one time. I went to Trader Joe's today, and these flowers just screamed out at me, "Buy me, Buy me, and I will make you happy." A quote from Ali..."these flowers make me happy." They are bright, but there colors are very, very rich. I tried a couple different settings on my camera to try and capture the vivid yellow and rich oranges. Hope you get the idea. Thought I would share...Have a great week.

One final thing...

Love the fact that I have so much ribbon...but one final nail in the proverbial coffin for the Tuesday...towels that I hunted for all over the city and finally found on the internet were delivered last night by a hot UPS man. These towels are perfect for my bathroom--I have the hand towels, but I wanted bath ones too. Found them on the internet--ordered, and then they showed up last night--so happy, and a great ending to a horrible day. Try again. Opened the package, and the tag said the exact towel that I ordered, should have guessed because of my day...but they weren't the towels I thought I ordered. The picture on the internet didn't match the towels I received. That figures, and now they go back, and for this pleasure I owe $6.95.

Today was much better though...

Yesterday

Don't you ever have one of those days when you tell the world to stop, so you can catch up? I had many balls in the air, and many of them came crashing to the ground yesterday. So, let's summarize:

• Monday night, 8:30 pm, appraiser for the refinance called and wanted to show up at my house the next day. The answer: No, let's try for next Tuesday.
• Next morning, 10AM, loan processor calls, for some additional info. I tell her about the late phone call, and idiot appraiser. Her response, is how rude, but you do need your home appraised by the 23rd (the absolute latest) because we need ten business days to complete, otherwise you owe more money, and your rate can't be locked in. So what is with this 30-day lock in rate when I have to have everything completed within 15 days? Panic mode sets in because my house is in no condition to be appraised--that appraiser would be laughing, " you want that much for this dump?"
• 11AM, husband calls, claiming he has a deathly illness and will die by sunset. Men...why can't they just suck it up? I threw up for four hours on Saturday night from some mysterious illness, and the next morning I ran all my weekly errands and housework. Love my husband, hate the helpless person he turns into when he doesn't feel well. There goes any chance of slave labor for the day.
• 2pm, boss says, the $2.6 million project I have been madly trying to finish over the last week, needs to be completed because the $30 million project needs attention. Not to mention, another co-worker promised a set of documents for this project with a VERY unrealistic deadline to the client, and she didn't consult me on the timeframe--I was playing hookie that day, but that is besides the point-- I am the one that will complete the docs--and she can't help me.
• 4:55pm, one of my subconsultants on the $2.6 million project has now gone MIA. He is the one holding me up, and I can't get a hold of anyone in his office of 20 people, and that's not for a lack of trying. Didn't anyone realize that 4:55pm is still 5 minutes away from 5pm, and the receptionist should still be answering the phone?? Hello??

So, to summarize my day--it just sucked. So to finish off the day, I spent the next five hours at home scrubbing walls, fixing little dings (so they can be painted today), and threw out five garbage bags of crap. My motto last night: haven't picked it up in six months--then it gets thrown out--don't even look back, and don't second guess yourself.

I ended up organizing my scrap room last night as well--and who knew I had so much ribbon?

Days like this...

My mantra for the day is the serenity prayer...please let this day end...

More later...

Buddy

Well, this weekend was going to start off wonderfully. C and I were going to get up and get this house together to be appraised. We need to have the house completely put together, so our refinance and expansion plans can proceed with at least no financial hiccups. That was until Saturday morning at 7:15 am. I fed the cats as usual, but when I went back into the house, and back to bed to lay down for another half a hour, I was brought back to awake by my oldest cat crying outside. I thought that was strange, so I got up and went back outside to see him crying in pain. I inspected his back leg and notice a huge gash in his skin on his back leg by his tail. To make a long story short, C found an emergency vet, and I quickly bundled Buddy into the cat carrier and off we went. A half an hour later, the vet told me that Buddy has had this wound for several days and it was severely infected. He didn't think that he could save his tail, not to mention his life. Buddy was almost twenty years old, and I had to make the decision to put him down. I hate those decisions. So, if you ever met Buddy, he was just a friendly cat that just wanted some attention whenever you were around. He was happy just following you around the yard, and sitting in the shade watching you do your yard work. We adopted him two years ago, and he walked into our little family, and he will be greatly missed.