The Dining Room Saga…..

ok, so I got really tired of the mint green in my dining room and wanted something more neutral in case, we do end up moving out of state for me to go to grad school in 2 years…..and I wanted to carry the color scheme through the living room and the hallway. Plus, I hate where the buffet sits, so with some measuring I decided that I don’t mind if the bookcase covers a couple of inches of the windows, as long as I can move the buffet where I want it. Here is what the room looked like before I started on this madness:

Now I realize that you can’t see where the buffet used to sit but it is right by the chairs in this picture. It is hard to open the window that is right there and if one is sitting in these chairs one can’t get into said buffet to get out school stuff, a big problem since that is where the books that they use on a daily basis reside.

So if I had to move everything and take all those darn books off the bookcase, I was going to paint the room at the same time, it was going well until I made the husband fix the outlet that wasn’t stable:

after the outlet was fixed we had a hole that needed to be fixed as well….a quick phone call got a friend over last Saturday with leftover pieces of drywall, so he showed the husband how to do a wall repair the “right” way (the husband is just learning to be mechanically inclined):

This was just the first coat of mud over the new piece of drywall,  we had to wait 3 days for it to dry totally for shrinkage since the hole was so deep, today we put on the second coat and will let it dry for another 2 days, then prime it with drywall primer, regular primer and then finally paint it. But my outlet is fixed and the fear of someone getting electrocuted is reduced and the wall will look great when it is done.

this is the corner where the bookcase once lived and where the buffet is slated to be moved to. As you can see we are going to put up a chair rail in here as well, I have corner pieces and we did pick up some of the rail to prime and paint

( another dr. bill rolled in so we have to wait a bit to finish buying the rail). but we are going to put up the rail where the bookcase is going so that I can at least move it back and get books back on the shelves by next week’s start date for homeschooling….

It will look very nice when it is all done but all the extra work and the slowing me down is driving me batty. BTW, I can’t get the rest of the post to change colors to blue, like the top section….*shakes head* So this project is taking much longer but the husband learned a few things and I will be happy with it when it is done, *I am hoping though that we don’t have too many more outlets to fix and repair holes in this manner though.

I’m eventually going to carry the dark grey to an accent wall in the living room and the hallway, but the other 3 walls will be the light grey that you see on top, I like pinks and reds, so it will be easy to give it a different feel with pillows, tablecloths, etc. Plus, I can put in charcoal grey carpet and carry that all the way into my room, saving me time and stress.

Oh yes, the Princess has been sick for 5 days and that definitely slowed us down, she is on the mend but still very tired and lacking of energy.

Deer, Birds, and a summer project…..

So we had 5 deer running around our neighborhood yesterday and I got a few not too close photos of them for you to see.

2 of them are hidden behind the others, they didn’t cooperate with picture taking

We also have lots of cardinals this year as well as bluejays….

Here is our mama Morning Dove….sitting on her eggs, we have no idea how many there are but she is there like a good mama..

So we decided that our home improvement project would be putting in a stone patio for us to utilize our backyard. We decided to put it back by our garage since the neighbor to our right has a deck that sits up rather high and they have summer parties every weekend in the summer….that means we have no privacy at all, but with a patio next to the garage we are hidden from them and even the left side neighbors won’t be on top of us much at all since their garage blocks us somewhat as well.

The first step for us is getting rid of the stump that was in our way….here the husband has already started working on it….

I love hardworking husbands…..they make life so much better.

It is still there but he is working on it as I type this… the core is rock hard and he is chipping away at it steadily. The neighbor teen that spends a great deal of time over when visiting his dad is taking a try….oops, that was short….”it is harder than it looks” My husband says he will persevere…..then he gets to dig down 3″ so we can lay the weedmat, and paving sand, then we can lay the stones….he is very excited about this project… as it means we will have a bit of privacy and be able to sit outside comfortably as will the kids and their friends…

Off to get an update and photos ….

Bill, the neighbor….

King of the stump, “I won!!!!”

Now we will have to start working on the really hard part but, at least we are progressing!

Happy New Year *edit,

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a Godly and Blessed New Year !!! I was going to recap my year last year but so much has happened that I was overwhelmed just thinking about it all again. So I decided to just be happy today and see where 2009 takes my family and myself. I know we have some cleaning to do as well as some baking, we are taking oatmeal cinnamon chip cookies to Dr. Yan the kids chiro tomorrow. I might venture out for a bit today, but that is debatable, it is cold out there!!! I finally decided on curtains for my ever so cold house and ordered them will take a photo once they are hung. I found a couch that I really like as well, now to find the money to buy it. Well I must be going, life beckons.

goals-for-2009-version-1-sheet11

Wow, what a difference

Today, the kids and I (mostly Noah) worked really hard getting the dining room ready to prime. First we had to move everything but the table out of there, ( the husband helped here a bit) We washed down the walls, filled in holes, vacuumed out the window sills (they were a mess with paint chips, leaves, dust…..) swept and washed the floor, sanded the holes, vacuumed again, then taped up the wood work. The kitchen is a mess but I’m done for the night, except for baking the banana bread for the kids for breakfast tomorrow morning. Oh yes, and finishing the pudding pie. We needed a loaf pan and didn’t have one anymore. Tomorrow we will prime the walls, I”m so hoping it is only going to be one coat. Although I think we need to prime the ceiling as well and I hate painting ceilings. Perhaps I will let the husband do that one. Ok, out of here to finish that bread and pie. Have a great evening.

My final decision

I decided to wait a bit longer for the Bosch and the Nutrimill. I am probably going to be watching my granddaughters this summer and could possibly buy them with that money ( The daughter pays me a minimal sum for all day babysitting)

While I’m a bit disappointed I feel good about this decision, so today we went out and bought 5 gallons of primer to start working on the dining room this week. We will also be buying the paint. I’m hoping to possibly put in carpet in the living room/ stairs and hallway before winter. I would love to do the bedrooms as well but we will see what happens.

In my quest for healthy eating i”m just going to buy some spelt flour and make some of the things with it : waffles, pancakes, muffins, bagels. Perhaps a single loaf of bread occasionally. I also need to get to the local fruit and veg. market we have not far away. I’ve heard they have really great prices for produce which will definitely help us both food and health.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, it was a hard decision for us. The husband finally asked me if we were going to be committed to eating healthier if we bought it? I was surprised and said we have to be……he agreed. So I know that when the times comes again to revisit this topic he will be more willing. I was the one that backed out of buying it right now, I didn’t want him to stress about money. I’m glad I decided to wait, I think making him happy is a good thing.

Frantically Working

on our budget…..our stimulus check was in the bank this morning. I also had to pay bills. I”m working on our homeschool curriculum for this fall, that is where the bulk of the stimulus is going since I spent most of my tax refund getting into my house and the rest needs to be saved in case the husband takes his pension and goes to work full time at our church. It takes 12 weeks for us to get the pension money and then it is retroactive. So that means I need to have enough money in the bank to pay for our mortgage and car payment for 3 months. Although, we would save so much money on gas for the van, I would love to have him work at the church full time. I’m going to have to get serious about praying about it.

I’m debating on buying something and have to make a decision by tomorrow.  Bosch has their Bosch Universal Mixer and Nutrimill on sale until Mother’s Day. It is still pricey, worth the money. The reason I’m considering it is we have been eating horribly for well over 2 years now and I know that is affecting our health and my fibromyalgia. I am feeling convicted by the Lord to work on our eating habits and work on our food budget. I’m allergic to wheat and I could easily switch to spelt with the mill and the mixer. Not to mention, making all those other great things that require flour and a mixer : muffins, bagels, pancakes, pizza crust, along with bread and french toast. Oh and I did find a spelt pie crust recipe. I am just having a hard time spending that amount of money, when I know that there are other things we need or will need in the house. So on one hand is our health and food budget and the other miscellaneous things for the house. With our economy, I’m really leaning towards our health and food budget. The husband has been kind of silent on the whole subject, he understands how worried I am, although I think he is worried about giving up his unhealthy italian bread The bread we buy right now is full of stuff that I don’t really want us eating, and costs $2.59 a loaf, which on a heavy day of sandwiches is gone in one day, leaving nothing for the morning or even the husband to take sandwiches for lunch at night. I guess if I didn’t have to spend the rest of the money on school books this wouldn’t be such an issue. It is however………………….the husband did point out that except for our mortgage and car payment the only other bills we have are living expenses. Which is a great thing. Even our new appliances were paid for in cash. I will let you know what I decide to do in a day or so. I so hate making decisions……

Praise The Lord

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, they finally signed off on our house and the paperwork is supposed to be at the Title Agency first thing this morning. The loan officer was hoping we could sign today but I’m guessing monday. God is good!!! I briefly spoke to the realtor and even he is guessing monday. It is almost over and the Lord has been here with us the whole time. I have to laugh though at God’s timing, why? My husband is on vacation next week from his full time job!!!! We had forgotten since we had to do his vacation schedule last Dec. so tonight is his last night for 8 nights. He will still work the church and his mag. job but those are easy. In fact he is working the church on sunday, and there is another weekend I hear that he might be working. Now we can get his pension stuff going and start working on his going full time at the church. That is going to be a bit of an adjustment, he will be working a split shift of 7-10am and then 4-9 pm but he will be home to sleep at night and not be so tired all the time. He is going to keep the magazine job but that is only about 10 hours a week and pays really well.

So rejoice with us, next week we will be moving into our house and you can groan with me as I get ready to clean and paint all those horridly colored rooms. I will be posting lots of pictures.

What a deal!!!!

I want to decorate the boys room with a knights and dragons theme as I found this quilt at Overstock.com and loved the coloring. Since our homeschool name has knights in it, this was a perfect way to incorporate our theme from school into their daily lives. I am painting the walls the same color and will put in carpeting the color of the headboard and night stand. Right now their furniture doesn’t match but please one thing at a time. Oh, yes, I bought 3 quilts for $119.44 including shipping. I found them for 39.98 a piece at smartbargins.com

I plan to draw them some knights stuff for their walls, like a personal crest on a shield for each boy. I’m thinking they will be small 8×10″ and then plan to frame them. I also am buying this puzzle to do and then glue it to hang up. I’m sure it will take us awhile but will look great hanging up on their wall.

Now for the update on the house, the underwriter has apparently signed off on the bid. Thank The Lord!!!! But now my lender wants to make sure that the leak in the kitchen has been fixed. So the bank owner has to turn on the utilities, and get a plumber into the house to de-winterize and then he has to send a report to my lender, once that is done the appraiser can finish his job and we can finish our paperwork and move into our house. We are still hoping to get into it before the original close date but we will see. Although our realtor is happy as the owner’s realtor already had a plumber to contact for the work. We should hear something soon, hopefully tomorrow. So that is the ongoing saga of our house. The Lord is getting us through this stressful time and we are so grateful. Ok, I need to get some work done, I suppose.

Frustration

Yes, we are still waiting for the underwriter to approve our bid. It has now been over 30 days and 22 business days. I’m not very happy with them. Everything on my side is fine but they are not doing their part. I know that there is a reason that we are waiting so long, perhaps to teach me to trust in the Lord a bit more, that would be a weakness in me. Trusting anyone is an issue for me actually. I’m holding on the Lord as best as possible to get through this trying time for us. We have to be out of here on the 31st of March unless we can get the management to let us stay for a week or so. The husband will call them on monday and see if we can work something out. Otherwise I”m going to be so stressed even more so than I am now.

We are packing things up, I have the bookshelves done with the kids books for school in milk crates for easy access until we move. I also did my big filing cabinet today. Still have to work on my desk and the little filing cabinet. But at least we are moving along. I need to prime the bedrooms probably next week after I take my midterm exam in art appreciation. I’m on spring break from the 8th to the 15th. So much packing, painting and cleaning will be done during that time. 

I would love to pack up more stuff but with moving being so far away, I need for the kids to have something to do. *sigh*

Noah’s last day of basketball was today, I heard they did well. He had a great time at the party as well. The husband is working the church this weekend. He is also working a long day on tuesday since we are having our primary that day. The church is used as a voting place. The extra $$ always helps though

Last saturday, the husband ran to kmart for some groceries and passed the appliance dept. They had a black sealed top gas stove on clearance for $384.92. It was originally $599.99. So we bought it and they are holding it for us for another 2 weeks. After that I’m going ot have to find a place to store it until we can move. But is was such a good deal that we didn’t want to lose it. They also had a great refrigerator that I wanted but we need to see where we can put it in the kitchen. Their prices on front load washers is good as well. 

I think i”m going to do some knitting……catch you later. 

Dots

• We start back to homeschooling tomorrow morning
• I start back to college on Jan. 14 th
• We are slowly putting away Christmas stuff
• The laundry is caught up because the husband, who loves me got up early and went to the laundromat and washed it all.
• We put everything away
• The checkbook and the bills are caught up
• I’ve made a list for the monthly household essentials
• I hope that we can get a hold of the realtor to go see a house or two this week
• We watched “Premonition” it was good a bit of a psychological thriller but ok.
  
• My daughter Renee, took me out to lunch today at the Olive Garden, it was nice and relaxing
• I’m taking Philosopy Ethics, Art Appreciation, Swimming 2 and Pilates this semester
• I”m reading the Redemption series by Karen Kingsley and Gary Smalley, they are great books.
• I have the boys schoolwork laid out but need to get Camryn’s still.
• I really need to make a list of things that needs to get done before next week so that everything does get done.
• I need to plan out next years school curriculum

Ok, well I guess I better get moving on something or other. Good Night.