What I've been doing

I have been thinking about how simplicity makes me feel calm, relaxed and ultimately happier in general. This picture is a kitchen that says to me "I'm simple but rich in experience and detail, I may not be showy but I am efficient, relaxed, easy going. I can handle hustle and bustle of rush time or I can sit back with a warm cup of joe." I like that in a kitchen. I also like those qualities in life.

Our days have gone like this: (not so simple and relaxed)
During the week Bobby is at work and most days comes to the house to work after that as well as some side work. Our weekends are always at the house working.
My day looks like this......
7am~ wake up, feed the kids, get dressed, change over some laundry, take out the trash, pack lunch, fill water containers
9am~go to Home Depot, bank, pay a few bills, swing by McDonald's for a Caramel Iced Coffee, go to 'the property' (that is still what the kids call it)
10am~work on tile, prime, paint, rethink and plan on kitchen layout because I'm never satisfied with it, referee the girls, check up on the girls because they are curiously quiet, make time for tic tac toe, listen to LadyBug's newest book-now second grade level :0), throw LuLu up in the air until my arms feel like they are going to break, talk about colors and sing the alphabet song.
12:30~ eat a sandwich, some carrot sticks, a V8, a Powerade
12:45~get back to work, being a referee, scrape the tile down again because I made a huge mess with the adhesive, reinstall the corner caddy thingy that LuLu used as a step before the adhesive dried. Scrape off the adhesive that LuLu iced the tile with while I was gone to cut a trim piece.
5pm~ eat a few Fig Newtons, drink another Powerade, get back to work. Check out LadyBug's newest invention outside in the dirt, push LuLu around on the bike.
7pm~ go home
8pm~ bathe the girls, cook and eat dinner, clean up, put the girls to bed
10:30pm~shower
11:30pm~sleep, glorious sleep

This is the color LadyBug picked for her room. Orange Slice by Glidden, we used Behr paint. The ceiling is about 2 shades lighter. Far from the previous description of relaxing simplicity, but you are only a child once. LuLu's color is Pink Peony also a Glidden color. I will post some pics of it soon. It is dusty pink with a lilac undertone.




With the help of my little sister I have been tiling my master bath shower. The opening you see here will be a solid piece of tempered glass. I finished laying he tile and cleaned it up for grout yesterday. As soon as it is grouted I'll post the pictures. I'll have to get a better picture. You can't see it here but a rain can is in the center of the shower ceiling and a handheld is on the wall. The clawfoot will sit right in front of that.

My two little sweet girls get as dirty as humanly possible every single day that we are there! But again, you are only a child once.

A nugget. Some fire. A load of Stuff.

I've been extremely busy with the house and summer life that I haven't had time to do more than a quick look-see of what has been going on around here! I am glad to see that everyone is doing well and have wonderful things going on. I have to run again but I wanted to share a few pictures first.
AND We start priming the drywall TODAY!




My camera was on fireworks setting. I thought this was a pretty cool picture of LadyBug with her sparklers. Click on these two to enlarge them!


Here is a close up on the same setting of a sparkly something, I don't know the name of but it was pretty and my camera picked up some really neat streams of fire from it.






Here is the load of drywall scrap after the hangers (?) were done.




Here is my LuLu giving everyone 'the tour'.





Here is the patio. Well almost.


I am going insane trying to pin down my paint colors. Seriously. I wish I had an interior designer friend. I will be bald before this is over!

S O S

Been busy.

Saturday and Sunday were both tied up with the house and being sure it was completely ready for drywall.
Monday was grocery shopping and catching up on chores.
Tuesday..... still catching up on chores.

Our drywall should be up and ready to paint in a week and a half!!!

I have to get serious about paint colors.
I'm going for a 'cottage with a hint of modern' kinda theme. I like white, cream, mushroom, walnut, dusty blues, vibrant greens.....
Does anyone have any suggestions?
The floors are acid stained concrete in a dark walnut finish. I want to incorporate bead-board. And I need to make some slip covers for my sofa and love seat but I really don't know how. They are in great shape but I want a creamy linen type cover for them that will not cost me a body part!
Help! Anyone! It's crunch time!

Not too shabby for hump-day.......

Getting ready for the patio....

Blessings Unending

Hip Hooray for Bobby. He got us a leap ahead for drywall today!
Bobby and a co-worker got more done today than I could have helped him do in a weekend!

The wonderful surveyor that set up our easement for water went way beyond our expectations!
Where we are going to live - out in the boonies- we have to get an easement to run water lines to our property and the meter will also be on someone else's property. The surveyor who took care of it for us is also a notary public. This sweet man met me to get exact location, went to property owner to verify, received appropriate paperwork via fax, went to water board to be sure of what they wanted, drew up paperwork, went to property owner for signature, went to court house and filed it for me, went to water board again to give them a copy..... all for $200!! He is just a good hearted sweet man. He called my husband and asked if he could do all of that because he knew Bobby was very busy with work and since we had two small children I was obviously busy. Can you believe that?! So now all I have to do is show up at the water board with a handful of cash (a check really) and we are all set!!

And I was able to take my sweet girls swimming. That was a blessing.
Time is something I haven't had a lot of lately. But blessings have not run short!!



Me, LuLu - Granny, LadyBug




LadyBug, LuLu, DD, Mom, and Granny

Jumbled Mess

I hope my readers will forgive me for not posting much lately. I've just had so much going on that it would look like a jumbled mess if I tried to update or put together something in a hurry. When I'm this busy it is really hard to sound intelligent because my brain is a jumbled mess.
But here are the latest goings-ons.....

Heating and Air - DONE (at least until drywall is up and painted)

LadyBug's Library reading - 504 pages so far for June!!

Plumbing - DONE (at least until drywall is up and painted)

Insulation and wiring - mostly done, will be finished this weekend

Drywall - waiting on us to finish this weekend

Grocery shopping - I am learning how to shop cheap and feed my family well.

Laundry - Uhmm, washed, mostly

LuLu's potty training - Depends on the day

You get the picture....

I did buy this really cool kitchen faucet today marked down from $247 to $92 wah hoo for me!
I am determined to get great products and great final quality as cheap as possible, for a couple reasons. ONE: I truly feel it necessary to refurbish and reuse when possible and get a deal when you can. And TWO: I need $4400 after the house is finished.....for something(s) a little more personal.

Father's Day was fantabulous. Hope yours was too.

art and stuff like it

Please click on the pictures to enlarge the view, you will not want to miss the details...





















I believe art to be a product formed through many mediums. I believe nature, ink,paint, crayon, chalk, voice, motion, instrument, concrete, machine, tools and clay are all different mediums to reach the ultimate goal of art. My children are artists, My God is an artist, Tattoo professionals are artists, dancers are artists, painters are artists, I am an artist, my husband is an artist, a builder is an artist, a musician is an artist, a teacher is an artist. The question then is, What is art? My answer, Anything created. No matter, professional or novice. Anything can be art.

So now lets eat granola and hug some trees ;)

OK. Here is the scoop.... My HVAC guy will be at the house early in the morning. HIP HIP HOORAY!
Through God all things are possible.

I can see it!!!!

I'm so glad to be back!!! I can finally see my blog again. Please get comfy, I'm in the mood to catch up.
Here is a break down on my forever home and how it is coming along....

I got a beautiful sleek stainless range hood and shower tiles yesterday. The range hood was a chunk of money but beautiful and worth it! The tiles I picked up at Southeastern Salvage for .49 sq ft !! Just so you know a 10 sq ft box of tile is heavy and loading and unloading can be tiresome and dangerous! I also went to The Old Gray Barn today and picked up some things for LadyBug's nautical cottage themed room.

Here are the tiles now there is one less tile because I dropped the darn box on my ankle and broke one (at least I hope I only broke one) They are 3" x 6" snow white matte. Let me see if I can explain this well enough to give you a picture of my master bath...... when you walk in the door you will see the clawfoot, behind it will be the glass side of the shower and you'll see these tiles in a subway pattern. All soft whites, creams, and some soft blues.

This is why I said tile can be dangerous! I thought I broke something other than a tile at that moment, but the *Que the poor me, pitiful music* excruciating pain has subsided. Note the swollen, awful, boo-boo...?

While we were working over the weekend LuLu made herself a friend. She also met a lizard but he didn't like her as much as she liked him. Click on the picture to enlarge if you can't see her froggy friend.

Here are the things I found for LadyBug's room. It was only $15 after taxes! She (we) want a relaxing retreat kind of feel so I will refrain or at least try to refrain from buying anything else 'themed' to her room. All we need now is bedding, rug, apothecary jar (for sea shells) and a worn and very large chest to put at the end of her bed for toys. Oops I forgot the desk, she needs a desk too.... but that is it. Cross my heart. The boat thing is a picture frame, $3. And the crab is brass and his head opens to hide a treasure inside, $2.

This is the view I get when I head into town from my 'forever home' I have already become so attached to the place that I look for excuses as to why we can't leave just yet. Even after working there all day.

I have tons of ideas for the house I'd like to share but I'll spare you this time.
I can see it now, it is all coming together.

Clawfoot and this is why I love him Thursday

This wonderful man just got off work and is working on my project. Every one who knows me will not be shocked by my openess about my anal tendencies to 'do it myself ' adn that in all reality..... even though my hands felt like they were falling off from using the grinder, I grudgingly let it go into his hands.... But between the thoughts of ' I could have done it myself ' I was really and truely thankful for him doing so much! He gave me a 'demonstration on proper grinder use' And for two days, came home after a long day at work and helped. Then took the feet to the machine shop and bead blasted them, oh ........ and he ran up to Home Depot to get a new paint roller --because the roller covers I picked up didn't fit the paint roller I had! LuLu was asleep and daylight was running out so he just took LadyBug with him and took care of it.




Here is the paint. I had it custom tinted to a dreamy light blue.




This was after wire brush grinding, three coats of paint stripper, wash down with acetone, another wash and scrub with muretic acid, hand held wire brushing, sanding of the bondo (some lune put on one side of the darn thing) and still more more grinding with the grinding wheel! Whew! That exhausted me all over again just typing it!!






TaDa! Only four days of WORK and one coat still to go on the outside when the rain and humidity clears for at least 5 hours.

By the way, I have to flip her over and refinish the inside still!! I also have a 1940's cast kitchen sink to do. That will have to wait for next week.

Don't know much 'bout Penelope's....

Don't know much about Science books

Don't know much about the French I took

But I do know that I love you

And I know that if you love me too

What a wonderful world this would be......

LadyBug found this

I think it is a millipede??? I don't know.... She insisted on calling it a Penelope all day though! It was so cute... (her watching after it, not the bug!) She kept up with it and made a make-shift amusement park for it out of plumbing parts. LuLu found it quite entertaining to push it with her foot so that it rolled into a impenetrable ball....making the mothering instinct of LadyBug come out...

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We (and when I say we, I mean Chad and Bobby) did get a lot of the plumbing done and I think they are finishing it up in the afternoons this week. By the way the plumber's name is Chad. They are our friends and it just seems very impersonal to say the plumber. I mean hubby is a concrete machine operator and mechanic but I'd rather call him honey. Because that is who he is not what he does.

We have to get water to our property now, yep, I said to our property! the nearest meter approx. 400 feet away. This is a frustrating and costly issue that must be dealt with when moving to the 'boonies'.

Here is a quick shot I got of the boys. Don't tell them I put this on here :) You know how guys are.... Oh that is not my good side, You should have told me and I would have fixed my hair, you know I need to know in advance.... Oh, wait.... that is me, I'm thinking of.... They probably wouldn't mind after all.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

We are formaldehyde free, 35% post consumer, mold and mildew resistant!

In case you didn't already know, my husband and I have been married for a little over 7 1/2 yrs. We have been planning our 'forever home' (a term I borrowed from a friend) for about 6 of those 7 1/2 years!! I have felt a little disappointed several times because I wanted my home and I wanted it now! But the house we are in has been good to us, and God's plan is not our plan. Finally my prayers are being answered and we are moving along on our 'forever home'. The one will will cherish for our time on earth. The one we will raise our two sweet girls in. The one we will work hard on caring for. The one we will actually do landscaping around. The one we will see many sunsets from our 30' long front porch. The one we will fight in. The one we will love in. The one we will make mistakes in. The one we will experience victories in. The one we will play with our grandchildren in. The one we will grow old together in.

Our journey with our 'forever home' started long before we purchased the 7 acre tract it sits on in December of 2006. A year later we poured the pad for the floor. Another year and a half later and we started on the framing. We are moving right along now.

We insulated every wall that the plumber from Plumbing Dynamics didn't have to work on over the weekend!! We are hoping to have him (our plumber) there this week or weekend to finish up so we can complete the insulation. We also ran the telephone/data wires and cable wires, cut the grass (weeds) that have grown out of control this spring and cleaned up inside.

Here is a picture from last winter when my hubby 'Bob the builder' started the framing.

Here is a picture of the outside. I don't have one of the outside that has roofing on it but I will do that next time.

Here is a picture of the inside with some insulation.

I can't wait for the HVAC guy and Plumber to get their stuff done so we can Sheetrock and tile!!!

You might ask why we are taking so long?.... We decided not to go get a large mortgage so we have done what we can and now we are financing the rest because we want to be in there by next school season.

We're in the money, We're in the money...

No I didn't win the lottery. But we are finalizing a loan to finish our house!!!
God has made a promise and as always, He never fails at keeping His promise.
Though His timing is not ours, we trust in Him and hold fast to His word!!

I know you are getting tired of the background changes, so am I. I just ain't happy no matter which one I go with. OK that was southern sounding for sure but my roots keep me grounded.
I want happy but calming at the same time... that is me.... a big jumble of randomness...