Almost There!!

O.k.  So, we've got a ton of stuff moved already!!  And I already have that "Where the heck is all this stuff gonna fit!?" feeling.  Plus, we don't even have all of Daniel's furniture yet, and I still have a few things in storage left in Greenwood.  At least we will definitely have a full house in the next month or so I hope!  Poor Ashlyn is already sick of moving.  I just picked her up from school and told her we were coming by the house to get another load, and I don;t think I have ever heard that child sigh so loud before in her life.  We don't have the internet/ phone hooked up at the new house yet, so it'll be next week before I can upload some more pics on our progress so far  I'm off to move the last of the stuff! ( I really wish I could leave the rest of it behind!)  Wish us luck, and see you guys next week!!

My First "Traffic Jam"

Decatur is definitely a quiet little town.  Unlike greenwood, you never see a cop riding around looking for someone to harass.  I started to think there weren't any police officers around anywhere! I have, on occasion seen a sheriff car out on the highway, but that's about it.  I did find out, though, there is at least police officer around here because he directs traffic in and out of Ashlyn's school every morning. The highway her school is on stays pretty busy in the a.m.'s.  And all the parents and bus drivers who drop their kids off really do appreciate this police guy.  Today, however, is when we all found out just how important this guy really is!!  As I turned onto the highway this morning taking Ashlyn to schhol, I heard sirens- this a first for me!  Then, I noticed the guy driving the cop car was the traffic guy.. Can he really just leave us all hanging like that? There really must be only one police officer in Decatur!!  Why did someone have to go have a wreck and take the directer of traffic and NCES?! (I hope whomever involved in the wreck is o.k.!)  And much to my horror, when I got to the turn at Ashlyn's school, traffic was majorly backed up!!! It took almost 10 minutes to get out of there after I dropped Ashlyn off! (And that is a long time for such a small town!)  Ashlyn even noticed the traffic and said, "Wow, mom. Glad I don;t have to wait in the traffic to get out of here!" Thanks for the support, honey!  So, people of Decatur, let's practice extreme safety while driving in the mornings so that our school can keep its traffic cop on patrol. Because I don't do good in "traffic jams".  Thanks!

Say a little prayer....

Say a little prayer for me!! If everything works out I wanna be completely moved by Thursday at precisely 12:00 noon.  But you know my luck... so we will see. I'm off to pack! 

Anyone Wanna Pack For Me?!?

I can definitely say I feel a sense of accomplishment from the weekend. Don't get me wrong- I wanted to throw my paint brush across the room several times and throw a hissy fit- but I held my composure and finished the majority of the painting today.  We haven't started on the living room yet, though... and that camouflage gets worse and worse every day! But, the living room will serve as out storage area until we get unpacked, so no need to start on that just yet.

First up, here's the inside of our cabinets before we painted them.  Let me point out that I could have gone with regular ol' shelf paper, but no.  Daniel wanted them painted.  And let me tell this was not a fun task.  Half way through the painting process, Daniel asked why we decided to paint the cabinets... Your idea honey!!! Not mine!!!

And then the finished product...

And we also finished our bedroom!! Just waiting for the Fed Ex man to bring us our new comforter and curtains... Thanks Mom!!

I don't think I have ever seen a brown room before. But I really wanted one. And I am really happy with how the guest room turned out. I may sleep in there a lot... Especially because it's at the front of the house with a nice view over looking the pasture- very nice to wake up to!

I think I love Ashlyn's room more and more every day!! ( Don't mind the furniture, it's not all together yet!!)

My hallway- I love how this color brightens it up!

And the dining room...

And let me throw in this brag pic- yep, this is what we get to look out the front of the house and see. I know, we are looking for someone with a tractor to clean it up a bit... but we have deer run through our pasture!! I love fall!

Here's our "miller lite" blue kitchen!!

And the mud room and laundry rooms in the same blue..

Abel is the first one in the family to move out to the new house.. he seems to be enjoying it!

Ashlyn "worked hard" helping Daniel put our house number up by the front gate!!

I feel great about how the house is coming together, but will feel even better once we get the outside of the cabinets in the kitchen painted!!

P.S.- Ashlyn's team won at soccer tonight!! Not to brag, but the other team's coach said to just call the game in the middle of the 4th quarter because there was no way they could catch up... Go Brazil!!

Happy Color!!!

I couldnt' sleep last night because I was so happy about how our dining room and hallway turned out yesterday!! I picked a pretty good color spontaneously!!!!! But I left the camera at the new house. Hopefully I will remember to bring it home tonight so I can show off some pictures!!

Still Going, and Going, and Going

I've always thought of myself as being a little redneck, every time I see Ashlyn's b.b.gun propped up by the back door.  Plus I never thought it would ever get used.  However, Daniel and I were on the couch recuperating from a long day of painting when we were heard my cat Sophie start screaming. (To be honest, we, shamelessly,were watching Jersey Shore, and I thought the cat fight noise was a sound effect on the show at first. Because, let's face it, the girls always fight. And I guess this means that I've admitted to viewing more than one episode since I know all about the girl's fighting habits.)  Daniel and I jumped up and ran outside, me screaming,"Get the b.b. gun!!!!!" We found my poor Sophie in the bushes and another mean cat was running off- just wanted to make sure there weren't any raccoons harassing my cat!!!  See? When would I have ever been concerned about raccoons? And chase after animals with a b.b.gun? Yep, the hills will do that to you.

Daniel and I went to Lowe's again yesterday and bought more paint!! (I held on to my notebook this time!) And I completely all at once changed my dining room/ hallway paint color. Daniel seems more pleased with the new color rather than my original one anyways, so I guess I did a good thing!

I've never had good luck. In fact I've usually just had bad luck.  I did win a Viking grill in a raffle once a long time ago, but my dad bought the ticket so that was all his luck. Apparently, my husband has the same luck, if not worse, than I do. For example- We found the perfect kitchen faucet yesterday and- lucky for us- it was on sale! It had the pull out faucet that turns into a sprayer and was the perfect brushed finish color I had been searching for.  Only when we got ready to pay, we had the wrong one. The one we picked up was not on sale, and they were out of the one that was on sale. But they looked exactly alike!! Dude at Lowe's could have helped us out a little...

We put the finishing touches on the bedrooms, and started painting the inside of the cabinets, which I found to be a very big pain.  Luckily, I got to take a break and go pick up Ashlyn and her friends from school. I took the kids to Newton to McDonald's to meet their mom when she got off work. O.k., so I have three kids who are hungry and wanna play, so I took their happy meal orders and went to go get them, only to find out that Mcdonald's system had been down and hasn't rebooted yet. So they can't take a credit card. Really? I have no cash. Well then lady, why don't you go tell the kids they don't get a happy meal because your McDonald's stinks! Fix it!! Ash, GG, and B let me know how disappointed they were in me that I didn't have any cash. Well, not Georgia cause she's too sweet. But Ashlyn and B threw fits.

After that I took Ashlyn to her dad. On the way back to Little Rock to do some more work, I stopped in Newton and got a case of beer and a bucket of chicken. My husband loves me. :)

So ready for our first family cookout next weekend!! I think that's the motivation for me and Daniel this weekend and week- we want as much done as possible before the family comes!

And Happy Wedding Day to Lindsay and Matthew!! Wish we could be in Florida with you guys!!

Heading back to the house- will post some more pics soon!!

I LOVE YOU KIKI!!!!

Another Day Down!

It's nice to be home and not be worn out!! Ashlyn did great at soccer tonight- her team won!! She even began to play exceptionally well when finally halfway through the game looked over and saw her dad sitting with me and Daniel!! Why won't she play that good for us?! :) Daniel and I were talking today and thought about how funny it was that my fam and his fam are all coming to see us next weekend... next weekend after we have painted and moved everything ourselves!!! Thats fine you guys! I will save the super hard trim work for you!! Totally kidding- we NEVER have a house full and can't wait for yall to come!! Now if only I could get my Delta girls to come visit.... 

I did get the guest room painted today and I love the shade of brown we picked. I can't wait to get some of my paintings hung in there because I just know it's gonna look good! Daniel and I are heading out early in the morning to get more paint for the dining room and hallway- thank goodness he has all this time saved up to take off work this week and next week!! Ashlyn will be with her dad and Adria this weekend so you guys pray for me and Daniel- we will be working non-stop till Sunday night!! Forgive me if I don't post much till Monday!! 

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Thanks Daniel!!!!!

Thank you, thak you, thank you!!!! Daniel took Ashlyn to school this morning so I could get an extra hour of sleep..... I feel much better!! Heading to the new house to paint some more, then soccer tonight!!

Tylenol! Please!!

Ashlyn's room!!! I am in love with that purple!!

The Master bedroom!! Coming along nicely???

What a day! However, my back is killing me!!! I got Ashlyn's room and my bedroom painted!! And yay for Daniel for coming out and doing the trim work for me!! It's getting closer to moving day!! While I was sitting there painting today, I couldn't help but constantly think about mine and Daniel's friends who are all in Florida this week getting ready for some wedding fun Saturday.... boo!!!!! "Just think happy thoughts, Lauren!!," is what I would tell myself, but yeah- that didn't work!!!  At the end of the day, Ashlyn and I packed up shop and came back home... and then reality kicked me in the butt!!!  Dirty kitchen, dirty clothes, tons of school papers to fill out for Ashlyn, raffle ticket money and form are due tomorrow maybe- (and last I checked Daniel had that so I dunno where that is!)- and so much more to do!! I was so wanting to go to bed early tonight... maybe tomorrow???? All I know is I need some tylenol!!!

As promised, here are the before pictures of the house!!!

The kitchen!

We like the blue, just not that shade. So we will be going with what Daniel and I call "Miller Lite" blue. And it came with these awesome fairly new stainless appliances!! (except for the microwave- I took that from my mom)

"Mud type room"

Was originally supposed to be a dining room, but there's just not enough room... not really enough for me to make a breakfast nook out of it.

Oh but I do have big plans for this space!

The laundry room

Needs shelves, right? Exactly what we were thinking! Thanks, Dad!!

BIGGEST PROJECT BY FAR!!!!

and yes- that is camoflauge.

I told Daniel I really wanted a yellow room. With white and aqua accents that I personally think will all look good with our dark brown furniture and Daniel's mom's awesome retro furniture that I spray painted white with the helpful advice from Mary Neff. Oh yes- and floor to ceiling bookshelves with aqua colored backs and a bar on the back white wall!!! YAY!!!! I am most excited about redoing this room! Hope everything goes well!!

Dining room/ Entrance

I love my fireplace!! And the slanted ceiling. (cant' really tell from the pic) But it's a great place to hang some art! Christmas present anyone??

Hallway

(which will be full of pictures, just like Granny's house)

Hallway/ the Girl's bathroom

I think I'm just gonna leave this one alone...

Ashlyn's room (which will be purple)

Guest room (or as Ashlyn told my mom- her "baby brother or sister's room-and I promise I didn't tell her to say that!) It will eventually be a brown-ish color.

Our bedroom!! Sorry folks- I'm so not keeping this color!! Hopefully in the next couple of days it will be gray!

Master bath/ Daniel's bathroom

I'm trying to push him towards a regular ole' tan color for this one, simply because he absolutely would not go for my black and white bathroom idea.

Home Sweet Home!!

I will definatley post some outside pics later- we have lots to do outside as well!!

Work, Work, and More Work!

So I warned Ashlyn on Monday to be prepared to be picked up from school each day this week and head out to the new home.  Apparently she doesn't listen well. I say this because we don't have running water yet, and she is only 6, and so her bladder... well you know. Ashlyn, however, was very excited that she has been "yard potty trained". (DO NOT TELL HER I TOLD YOU!) I started the fun task of ripping out old shelf paper today, only to find that the previous owners put their new shelf paper on top of the shelp paper that had already been there. Also, when the previous owner painted, they painted on top of the old shelf paper- total mess. Why do I have such good faith in previous home owners? LAZY!!!!!! Thankfully, Daniel pulled up with a very nice surprise!!! Paint for the 3 bedrooms!!! As much as Ashlyn has complained about me choosing a fabulous purple for her room, she sure seemed to enjoy it today!!!  I have to say I was too tired to begin painting but when Daniel unveiled the adult beverages I was ready!!! 

One of the reasons I love my husband so much has to be because of what happened this afternoon- As time went by while we were painting Daniel asked me if I had my notebook. My super important notebook. My notebook full of to-do lists for the house. My notebook full of all the measurements for paint, moldings, and trim. Absolutely everything we need is written down in this notebook. Along with my paint colors. Which is why he took it to Philadelphia with him today to buy us some paint.  He did all of this for me, and then realized in a split second he had left my super important notebook at Lowe's!!! In the buggy!!! Surely I married someone smarter, right?!?!?!  Nope. But he did get in his truck and drive all the way back just for me. Well, for me and for the fact that he wouldn't have to measure all over again.  Now my notebook is back with me where it belongs! ( I will go with him to Lowe's next time!!)

I also just wanna sneak in here that I am officially a Gleek. Did anyone else watch the season premiere of Glee? Loved it!!

Vacuum Cleaner- 1 Me-0

Ever had your vacuum get clogged up? Ever had it get clogged while absolutely full of dead bugs you've been vacuuming up all day long as a result of a powerful bug bomb and a house that hasn't been lived in in well over 6 months????!!!  Needless to say, I had to inform MY ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL HUSBAND DANIEL that I left him a surprise to clean up when he goes back out to the new house. :) I hate bugs.

Here I am!

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome myself to the world of blogging!! I thought this would be a fantastic way to let the family I left behind in the Delta keep tabs on me and see how well I will be doing "fixing up" the house my husband and I just bought! Heading out to the new house soon to take some before pictures to share!! Will be back later!!